Things Just Got Real
by Better a Freak Than A Fake
Summary: First two chapters and part of the third Co-Authored with HTFan: Never-ending cycles of death and resurrection is a terrible existence that no one would want to endure unless they were crazy. Yet conversely, you'd be mad to end it. But is there even a way? And would you dare? One could go mad thinking about it. Rated T for violence and gore and coarse language. Cover by ashdash241
1. The Devil You Know

**Hello readers, welcome to my newest story, this time a collaboration with my newest co-author HTFan. Though the process was a bit different from my other co-authorships, I had a lot of fun and I think this chapter worked out beautifully. I hope you all have as much fun reading this as we did writing it.**

 **We do not own Happy Tree Friends or any of it's characters. All rights go to Mondo Media.**

 **Start the story!**

"Look out!" An unidentified voice rang out through the street as Mole's car came barreling down, plowing over Nutty and scattering the huge bag of candy he was dragging from the store. The car kept going, missing a screaming Flaky by mere inches before disappearing into the distance.

With Death sparing her for however long he has decided to give her, Flaky, panting heavily with her heart beating out of her chest (figuratively), slowly pushed herself up onto her feet after dropping down onto the sidewalk for cover. Brushing the small specks of dirt and dust off her chest, she looked back to the direction the vehicle was heading, nodding her head to see it was nowhere to be seen.

She wiped the sweat off her forehead and let out a relieved, yet still depressed sigh. "When will this curse ever end and give us at least one hour of peace? Would it hurt to make the world somewhat safe for once?" Flaky looked down at her feet, and closed her eyes as she shook her head. "It can't get any worse, can it?"

"Hey, Flaky! Over here!" Letting out another depressed sigh, she turned her head around, praying silently the voice she heard was nothing more than her awful imagination. Sadly, it was indeed a reality as her eyes met the sight of a familiar, energetic yellow rabbit waving in her direction and beckoning her to come over.

"Obviously it can."

Cuddles came running over to her, ignoring the mess of Nutty's organs and candy he ran through coming over. "You'll never believe this, Flaky! Come on! It's going to be fun!" He latched onto her wrist with the vice-like grip she knew far too well and started pulling her in the direction he came.

Flaky looked at her friend with pleading eyes, hoping for once in his immortality he would actually listen to her but kept walking along with him, only to avoid being dragged along the ground. "Cuddles, I don't want to go wherever you're taking me! It's always scary and gets me killed."

Cuddles just laughed, not realizing how serious she was being in her request. "Don't be a chicken, Flaky. You haven't lived your life if you haven't risked it. Besides, it's not like risking your life is all that much here."

Flaky went silent as she listened to Cuddles' last words flowing out of his mouth, and took it in deep consideration. Risking your life is not much here? True indeed, life is, in a sense, endless in Happy Tree Town when death is not a permanent truth. But yet, life is such an important aspect of living; a precious item which should be watched out for despite immortality being a reality or not.

She shook her head in disbelief. Flaky, when comparing herself to someone like Cuddles, thought from time to time she was really the only Tree Friend to try and protect her life as if it were her last, to preserve it long enough to enjoy living, and to care the meaning of life as a whole. Constant death and resurrection was not a way of living for her, yet she had no choice but to accept it.

Still being dragged against her will, Flaky looked at Cuddles, who still held an energetic and excited look on his face. "Can you at least tell me where you intend on taking me this time, Cuddles?"

Cuddles laughed as he kept his tight grip onto Flaky's wrist, turning his face behind him only for a brief moment to respond. "Oh, it's a surprise! Come on, you can trust me Flaky! It'll be much more exciting when you see it in person, you'll see!"

Flaky closed her eyes as she let out a soft sigh, mumbling to herself quietly. "Yeah, I'm sure it will be exciting for the first 10 seconds before ultimately being killed by it..."

She knew she had no choice but to be dragged along, she had tried many times before to try to break from the rabbit's grip, but all were in vain. He was much stronger than she will ever be. The chances were higher of ripping her arm clean out of its socket trying. She obviously didn't want this to happen, so she went along with him, with a constant mantra going through her head, _'Please don't be too painful. Please don't be too painful.'_ Who was she kidding? Of course it was going to be painful.

* * *

"Alright, Flaky, we're here! You can open your eyes now." She suddenly heard Cuddles speak and noticed they were indeed no longer moving forward, though his grip on her wrist didn't loosen and neither did her eyelids from each other.

"Those words don't go together, Cuddles!" She yelled, somehow fooling herself into believing if she doesn't see whatever dangerous thing Cuddles dragged her to see, it won't exist and therefore couldn't hurt her. It was a very childish thought, but her fear stuck her to it.

"Now you're just being ridiculous!" Cuddles laughed and looked at her quizzically. "How are you supposed to see the surprise if you don't open your eyes?" His lips pursed trying to think of a way to get her to open her eyes. Suddenly, he let out a scream.

In spite of what her previous instincts had been telling her, Flaky's eyes immediately shot open, needing to see if he was okay. In hind sight, it should have been a dead giveaway: the grip on her wrist never faltered. However, she was shocked and angered to find Cuddles just standing there, now laughing instead of screaming. "Cuddles! That isn't funny! You scared the living daylights out of me!"

"Fluffy chicks scare the living daylights out of you. Besides, it worked. Your eyes are open."

Her cheeks turning red, both out of hearing the embarrassing truth restated by Cuddles and rage of being brought into another situation without her consent, Flaky looked around where she now stood and noticed it was a very familiar place... which only reminded her of the deadly disasters it always bestows onto its visitors.

"Cuddles... why are we at the playground? What's there to see here?"

Cuddles chuckled lightly as he let go of his tight grip on Flaky, and beckoned her to follow him. "It's over here, by the sandbox."

Flaky, reluctant to follow Cuddles any further, felt she had no choice but to pursue to Cuddles' point of interest. As she tailed cautiously behind him, Cuddles spoke more of his surprise. "You're going to be so shocked when you see what I found, Flaky! It was so random too! Sniffles and I were just sitting there digging in the sandbox, and BOOM, pops out this... thing, all bronze-looking and shiny. I told Sniffles to wait here and hold onto it while I went to get you, and he said we would go over to his lab to study it further..."

Cuddles looked around the playground in confusion. "In fact... where is he? I told him to wait here in the playground..." Cuddles dropped his confused expression and replaced it with his energetic grin as he looked towards the empty sandbox. "Ah, he at least left it for us."

While Cuddles ran towards the sandbox in excitement, Flaky stood still in a state of fear and insanity. The exact description how Cuddles described this... thing he found, out of nowhere, just randomly in the middle of the playground. Bronze-colored... shiny... the sandbox in the playground... "Oh no..."

Sure enough, Cuddles came up back to her with The Cursed Idol gleaming in his paws. It was a miracle he made it so far without dying carrying the thing. "Cuddles! Put that thing down! It's cursed!" Flaky screamed and tried to get away, though Cuddles had taken her arm back with his free paw.

"Cursed?" Cuddles repeated, examining the statue in his hands trying to figure out what she could possibly mean, having never encountered The Cursed Idol himself before. "So what? I'm cursed, you're cursed, that shovel there's cursed, everything's cursed. Besides, isn't this so cool!"

Flaky shook her head rapidly. Involuntarily thinking back to both of her encounters with the Idol, one of which in this very playground. "No, no, no, no this isn't like that. You have to believe me on this one! I saw monkeys rain out of the sky! I was eaten alive by flowers! That thing is more dangerous than anything else here!"

Cuddles just laughed shaking his head. "Don't be ridiculous, everything in this town is dangerous and I seriously doubt this is anything special. Besides being super cool, obviously."

"No, I think my reputation exceeds me there," a beaming, powerful voice from neither of them suddenly spoke.

Flaky just started screaming and even Cuddles dropped the Idol as if it suddenly burned him, which it didn't. "Oh, what the hell?!" Cuddles asked, though he could barely be heard over Flaky's screams. He looked at the Idol in a mixture of shock and confusion.

Neither of them had expected The Cursed Idol to talk.

The two frightened Tree Friends huddled together as they placed a good distance between them and the now-suddenly-talking Cursed Idol. As they both let out a fast pace of scared breaths and their bodies shaking violently out of fear, they stood still with horrified expressions on their faces, their minds unable to comprehend the situation, or make a decision to run for the hills, or wait for their ultimate demise.

Flaky stuttered as she attempted to communicate with Cuddles. "C-C-Cuddles? D-Did you k-know it c-c-could talk?!"

Cuddles, looking almost as horrified as Flaky, which was a shock to say the least for this fearless rabbit, shook his head while placing his right hand over his heart, preventing it from bursting through his chest. "N-N-No, I d-did not!"

As the two stood side to side, they could hear a sadistic laugh emitting from the Cursed Idol in front of them, lying motionless on the ground. "I expected this from you, Flaky but really, Cuddles? You look pathetic." The voice rang out.

Taking the blow to his pride, Cuddles tried to stand up straight and seem as brave as he's supposed to be. It didn't take someone omniscient to tell it was completely forced, even if they didn't see how he had been a second ago. Then it clicked though and the facade dropped. "How do you know our names?"

The Cursed Idol laughed again, "What a naive question. I know everything in this town." They both knew they had to get out of there but when the thought had barely entered their heads, the three of them were surrounded by a tall plantation of cacti.

Once again, the Idol laughed enjoying their horror, especially from Cuddles since it was so common from Flaky. "I just said that I know everything and you expected me not to know you were going to run? I need to talk to you two, and then maybe I'll kill you. I haven't decided yet."

"Wha-what d-d-d-do y-you w-w-w-want?" Flaky asked, stuttering worse than ever and trembling so hard it appeared to be snowing around her as her signature flakes shook lose.

The Cursed Idol could only laugh sadistically as he watched two frightened Tree Friends cower before him. With a sound of someone clearing their throat, the Idol spoke in a rather calm manner, "Why only your attention, of course."

The horrified expressions on the cowering Tree Friend's faces were replaced with confusion, Cuddles shaking his head after hearing the calm yet baffling statement from a statue which had almost killed them a few seconds ago. "Attention? What do you mean by that?"

The Cursed Idol sighed in agitation. "I mean I want you to listen what I have to say, Numb Nuts! It's as simple as that."

As Flaky huddled behind Cuddles out of fear, she hoped the yellow rabbit, who certainly had more, even if a bit idiotic, courage to stand up against such an evil work of creation, would defend her. Cuddles, however, could only snicker at the Idol's demands. "And why would we want to listen to you?"

There was a brief moment of awkward silence, with Cuddles having a stare-down at the bronze statue laying beneath him. The silence would be broken with the sound of Flaky's crying screech as she pointed her right index finger to the sky. "Cuddles! Look out!"

Looking up sharply, Cuddles gasped and ducked down for cover as if it were instinct. He closed his eyes tightly, hoping whatever object was falling from the sky would kill him instantly instead of being smashed into a pile of rotting guts.

However, after noticing his heart was still beating, and his bones perfectly intact, Cuddles took the risk to look up and see what exactly came down from the sky and scared the living life out of them both.

The sight almost wanted to make him puke as Flaky pointed out the obvious. "Sniffles!"

Before them, impaled at the top of one of the surrounding cacti, was the mangled, destroyed body of the blue scientific anteater they all knew, his body torn to shreds with his tongue ripped straight from his mouth and tying him up with his own ripped organs. It was certainly not a pretty sight to behold.

As Cuddles and Flaky stared at the bloody mess, the Cursed Idol spoke angrily. "That's going to be you in ten seconds if you don't let me speak!"

Without hesitation, Cuddles and Flaky stood still, giving the Cursed Idol every bit of attention they could muster.

The Cursed Idol laughed again, relishing in every bit of fear he was getting from the pair, before continuing on with what he actually brought them here for. "Now that I have your attention, it's blindingly obvious that neither of you like the way you are 'living.' None of you do; though, it's most obvious with you, Flaky."

Flaky just looked down at the cacti only inches away from her tissue paper-like flesh, outright refusing to look up at Sniffles' corpse, though it was impossible to ignore its presence as a constant flow of blood ran down the plant. Of course she hated it, though, as impossible as it sounds; she always thought Cuddles had loved it, that's how he usually came off at least. Though, from the Idol's comment, she wondered if everyone was actually as messed up as she was and was just better at hiding it. Though she didn't say anything with the threat literally looming over her, the Idol still got the question.

"Well, yes but that's not important right now. What's important is that I'm right. What if I told you that there was somewhere you could go that you wouldn't have to die all the time?"

They both tried to process exactly what the Idol was saying but suddenly Cuddles eyes narrowed, even knowing better himself. "Yeah? And what's the catch?" He asked, hoping in the back of his mind doing so didn't just damn himself.

"Well, you're going to have to figure that out yourself. There's five spots, I can trust you both to get the word out." Without warning, the Cursed Idol as well as their cactus trap disappeared into thin air dropping Sniffles' corpse down to the ground.

* * *

Cuddles and Flaky now stood still together in the middle of the empty playground (excluding the dead mangled body of one poor anteater). Amidst their shaken breaths from encountering a sadistic inanimate object wanting to make a deal was a cool and gentle breeze, which did not really fit the emotion of their situation right now.

After a few seconds of getting their bearings, Cuddles straightened himself up while Flaky looked around cautiously, trying to avoid visual contact with Sniffles' corpse.

Flaky's attention was then captured by Cuddles clearing his throat, making her jolt slightly but nonetheless giving the yellow rabbit complete attention.

Cuddles looked at Flaky with a concerned look, then shrugged his shoulders. "So... what three other people should we bring with us?"

Flaky, completely dumbfounded, shaken and even angered by Cuddles' question, took a step back away from the yellow rabbit, looking at him in disgust. "W-w-w-what?! What are you talking about?!"

Cuddles sighed and leaned back, giving a small smirk on his face. "I mean who should we bring with us to this new world? We got three spots left, so who should we tell?"

Unusual to her character, Flaky was more angered by Cuddles' question than she was worried. Cuddles may have made some poor choices in life, which normally resulted in both their deaths, and she tried to always show reason and perform a more cautious approach, but to make even a consideration for this deal was something too far for her. "Cuddles! A-a-are you honestly considering agreeing with t-t-that... thing's deal?!"

Cuddles shrugged his shoulders a second time. "Yeah. Why the hell not?"

"Because it tried to kill us! And it'll probably try to kill us again later! Cuddles, you can't be serious on actually trusting this idol and thinking nothing bad will happen."

Cuddles shook his head. "Now hold on Flaky; I didn't say nothing bad could happen if we accept this deal. Something well indeed could happen and get us all killed like it always does in the end."

Flaky waved her arms upward in agitation. "Then why do you want to agree to it?!"

Cuddles, seeing Flaky was only going to question the dangerous act and show little urge to agree, decided to give a clear answer. "Flaky, it's like this. We can either go out to this new world and something COULD happen to us, or we stay here and something will DEFINITELY happen to us. One of these choices gives us just a slim chance, a slim chance I emphasize, of actually not dying for once. Flaky, I don't know about you, but if there's a possibility of getting out of this hellhole, and not have to live through another painful death every day, then why would I even consider saying no?"

"Because the offer is coming from an idol that JUST TRIED TO KILL US! Nothing good will come out of this, I just know it!" Now becoming more angered and concerned over Cuddles' increasing stupidity of not listening to reason, Flaky reached out her right hand to Cuddle's right shoulder, and gave him a concerned look. "Cuddles, p-p-please listen to me for once. Something bad will definitely happen if you go through with this; no good will come from this deal. Please, just... just don't do it."

Cuddles stood still fora brief moment, completely silent and staring blankly at Flaky. He then spoke in calm but serious manner. "So, I take it that means you are not going."

Flaky shook her head. "No, Cuddles. I'm not going through with this. It just doesn't look safe."

With her answer given, Cuddles pushed away Flaky's hand and walked away from her. "Suit yourself, then. I thought you were stronger than this, Flaky; that you could actually try to take a risk for once. But I guess I'll just have to find another friend that'll actually stick by me instead of cowering behind a door."

And with this dreadful statement said, Cuddles left the scared and lonely porcupine alone in the park, making every attempt to ignore the sad look on her face.

* * *

Going nowhere in particular, Cuddles stomped down the street away from the playground, trying to stay mad only to avoid the only alternative which was to start crying.

The one time he tried to speak actual reason to her and she barely even listened to a word he was saying, then had the audacity to accuse him of not listening to her.

He was listening. He knew all the risks. He always knew all the risks. Normally, he did it otherwise because he knew the risks were no higher than the risks trying to be careful but this time, the risks of taking the offer were just slightly lower.

He looked over at a burning office building hoping no one was being roasted alive in there.

He closed his eyes letting a few tears fall. He did not want to leave Flaky behind, she was his best friend and he felt if he went and by off chance, the Idol was telling the truth, he would feel terrible for leaving her behind to continue this 'life' for the rest of eternity.

He opened his eyes back up and took a real look around, by this time of day, the town barely even tried to hide the reality of the situation. He walked on stepping over an unidentifiable body, trying not to think too hard on who it might be.

He just narrowly jumped out of the way of a falling telephone pole. "I can't stay here." Cuddles whispered to himself, staring at the pole which had just almost squished him like an overripe tomato. "I just can't. I refuse to do that to myself. I'm sorry if you can't see that, Flaky."

He had to admit he knew absolutely nothing about this new world they were being offered, but as it seemed, worst case scenario, it's exactly the same because it simply wasn't possible for anything to be any worse. Just thinking of some of the deaths he's been forced to suffer through threatened to turn him into Flaky.

So, when it's all said and done, he has nothing to lose. If only he could somehow convince Flaky to see things this way. He wasn't crazy. He just wanted a better life. Or at least a life lasting longer than a day or two. And would he sell his soul for this chance? Absolutely.

* * *

As Cuddles left the poor paranoid porcupine in the confines of the playground, along with the rotting corpse of Sniffles, Flaky could not hold back the waterfall of tears slowly running down her red cheeks. Both depressed and tired of the terrible aroma of Sniffles, Flaky ran to the nearest tree in the playground and hid underneath its lonely, dark shadow, resting her body against the cold bark at the base.

Weeping alone and scared, fearing this own tree, acting as her only place now for protection to hide her embarrassing trait of being a coward, would fall and crush her any second, Flaky kept her eyes closed as she tried to forget the memory of being left behind just now, though with little success.

Despite all the trouble he always gets her into, normally resulting in her own demise, Cuddles is possibly the closest thing she has to labeling to as a 'friend.' With such a solitude lifestyle in her own home, making friends was one of the hardest things for her to carry out, next to trying to survive the inevitable destruction and death of everyday life in the town she resided in. Thus, Cuddles acted as the one person she could at least talk to or even hang out with 'ease', even if she didn't always like the things he did.

Because of this, deep down inside her, when she looked passed the troubles the risk-taking rabbit always got her in, Flaky still cared for him. She didn't hate him at the slightest; it's not in her personality to really hate another. Rather, she was always concerned for him. The dangers he took without having a care in the world, and watching him die in front of her own eyes every day, it was heartbreaking to her.

Which is why she didn't want him to go. Her cowardliness may not mix well with his risk-taking attitude, but she was only trying to look out for him, to try and think of his safety. The world is a dangerous place, and people must rely on others to support and protect through these dangers. She wasn't trying to be a coward or hindrance. She was only trying to protect him... from himself.

As Flaky sniffled her nose and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes, she leaned her back against the tree and looked up to the dark green leaves of the tree. She shook her head as she let out a depressed sigh.

She knew, no matter what she said or tried to do, Cuddles was going to be dead set on going forth with this deal. She can't reason and stop him from getting himself into another life-risking situation and possibly getting himself killed again. Cuddles was going if she liked it or not, and she certainly did not like it.

And if Cuddles goes without her, he'll probably bring one of his equally risk-taking buddies like Toothy, which will only increase the chance of him facing his ultimate demise. Without someone with actual sense and caring for safety along his side, there was a likely chance he was going to get himself killed sooner rather than later.

With this in mind, she clenched her hands into a fist and hit them against the ground in annoyance, hitting the back of her head lightly against the tree. There was only one thing she could do in order to, at the very least, attempt to keep her friend safe. "Damn it, Cuddles. Why do you have to make me do this?"

She jumped up to her feet, scratched a few flakes of dandruff out of her itchy scalp, and went off to find the yellow rabbit which has, miraculously and once again, persuaded her in going on another one of his risk-taking trips.

* * *

She carefully headed into town trying to rack her brain for where her reckless best friend would have gone in this situation. Part of her felt like she should know him better than anyone but she had to admit Cuddles was unpredictable and she was left racking her brain on where to go, not realizing Cuddles had no idea where he was going either. There was only one thing which came to mind which might help her figure out where to go.

His last words to her rang though her head, being both helpful and hurtful to her. "Suit yourself, then. I thought you were stronger than this, Flaky, that you could actually try to take a risk for once. But I guess I'll just have to find another friend that'll actually stick by me instead of cowering behind a door."

"That must be what he's doing, trying to find someone that will stick by him instead of cowering behind a door. Whatever that means?" Flaky said to herself, trying to wrap her head around what a door had to do with anything. It wasn't a very adequate thing to cower behind. It didn't offer very much protection. "He must just not know how to cower." She incorrectly concluded and tried to think of who he might take, they would have to be as brave and risk-taking as he was. Well, the answer there was obvious.

She immediately turned and made her way towards the house. She didn't come across Cuddles on the way there but she knocked on the front door hoping he might be inside.

Because of Flaky's paranoia, her ears can pick up on some of the smallest noises most people wouldn't be able to by simply paying close enough attention. And this time, she picked up sobbing from inside the house which, though footsteps were soon heard in addition to the sobs, they never did stop as the door opened.

The original question died on her lips as she saw the friend on the other side. Tears running down one side of his face, blood running down the other. Her caring nature took over in a different way as his paws tried to clasp on the empty socket. When she saw him this way, any thoughts of Cuddles had temporarily left her mind and she asked, trying to fight the urge to unravel her lunch. "Toothy, what happened to your eye?!"

"Lunch... fork... oh it hurts!" Toothy wailed between sobs, barely intelligible, even to Flaky.

"Come on, I'll get you patched up," Flaky insisted, inviting herself inside and leading him with her. The fork with Toothy's eyeball stuck on it still sitting on the kitchen counter. She tried not to look at it as she dug through the cupboards finding a roll of bandages. She patched him up but when she did she could already tell he wasn't going to make it. He had lost too much blood by this point.

In this moment, the important question reentered her mind, and, as selfish as it sounded, she knew she had to ask it fast. "Toothy, was Cuddles here?"

His voice was weak and he was still crying but Flaky was able to work out the answer. "No, not since yesterday." He expired before she could get anything else out. She finally ran to the bathroom and threw up, to this day unable to stand the sight of dead bodies. She flushed the toilet and left the house trying to figure out where she could go now.

Going through a possible variety of places Cuddles could be at right now, she decided to start with the most simple. "You better be at home, Cuddles."

* * *

Cuddles sat on a cushioned rolling chair by a medium-sized wooden desk at the end of the room. He sat silently, looking down with a blank stare at a small piece of notebook paper, with small amounts of eraser shavings and lead scattered on the sides. The clock in his room ticked away as his eyes stared at the lone piece of paper in front of him.

As he kept a light grip on the number 2 pencil in his right hand, he looked over the writing on the paper without moving an inch on his seat. At the top of the heading, there was a title written as 'Friends I Should Bring with Me', styled with rather neat handwriting. Beneath the title was a list of every friend he knew of, as well as multiple bullet points underneath said names stating both positive and negative attributes of their personalities.

Cuddles wanted to make sure the people he brought where ones he could trust and have the most fun with. Toothy seemed to be a good choice, but there were plenty of others who looked willing and perfect to join him. He looked at each name multiple times, adding and subtracting traits from each name time to time as he paid close attention to detail of the people he knew.

But, as he pondered the people he would want to bring, there was one name he still could not get rid of on the sheet.

Flaky.

The name of one of the closest friends he knew bothered him significantly as it was held by a person he was certain, no matter how hard he could try to convince, would never come with him on this trip. Flaky was a kind and caring person, a Tree Friend perfect to tag along with on this trip. Though, as much as he tried to deny it, it was never going to happen.

A tear crawled out of the duct of his left eye, crawling down his cheek as he placed the pointed edge of the pencil over the familiar name, slowly crossing it out and forever leaving it out of his mind.

"C-C-Cuddles? Y-Y-You i-in t-t-there?" A stuttering feminine voice, and the consistent knocking at his front door made Cuddles jolt on his seat, his mind at full alert as he sharply turned his head around.

He quickly wiped the tear off his cheek and quickly ran for his door across his room, wasting no time to keep the person waiting by his door. With a smile on his face, he opened the door and noticed a good friend just waiting outside for him to see. "Flaky! What..."

Just now recalling the events earlier today, Cuddles shifted his happy demeanor and joyful smile with a rather serious and aggravated voice, as well as a scornful look at the red porcupine in front of him, which seemed to only make her look more worried and upset. "What do you want? Shouldn't you be cowering back at your home after saying you don't want to come with me?"

Flaky, upset to see Cuddles still holding the grudge against her, stood up straight and spoke as calmly as she could. "Cuddles, there is something I wanted to tell you..."

Cuddles rolled his eyes in annoyance. "What is it?"

Taking a brief moment to take a deep relaxing breath, Flaky stood tall and made her best attempt to not stutter, speaking rather firmly. "Cuddles... if you honestly are still dead set on actually going on this trip... that you still are not thinking of any of the possible dangerous risks and just don't care about dying at all... then you are, without a doubt, the stupidest person I have ever met, and even make Sniffles look sane in comparison."

Baffled and angered by Flaky's comment, Cuddles gritted his teeth and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Gee, thanks, Flaky, for re-stating that to me. Now, why don't you get the-"

"So that's why I'm here asking if I can still come with you."

Cuddles stood still in confusion and shock, he jaw dropped for a moment as he tried to comprehend exactly what came out of the mouth of possibly the most paranoid person in Happy Tree Town. "Um... what did you just say?"

Flaky sighed, shaking her head as she herself couldn't believe was actually doing this. "C-Cuddles, you're reckless, you're carefree, and you honestly seem not to care when thinking what could go wrong. If there is one thing I know for sure, it's that if you go on this trip, you will get yourself killed. I don't like this idea, as it sounds like a big trap to get you and your friends all in one strange place we have no idea about and kill all of you at once."

Cuddles continued to stare at Flaky with a confused look. "Yeah, you established that already."

"And I know that, if you don't bring someone that actually tries to think of the possibility of dying a horrific death, someone that actually cares, you'll just bring someone reckless as you, and get yourself killed sooner rather than later."

Flaky sighed once more, closed her eyes, and nodded her head. "But Cuddles, as annoying as you are to me, getting me killed on several occasions, you're still my friend and I care for your safety. I'd hate to see you get killed when I could have been there and acted as some sort of reasoning to stop you. I don't want you to go, and I certainly don't want to go. But if you really are going to go through with this, then... then..."

She opened her eyes, and took a step forward to Cuddles. "Then I guess I have no choice but to follow with you again, to at least try to keep you from killing yourself. I'm not going to enjoy this, and we will certainly die in the end, but I can't let you go off and do it alone... t-that i-is... if you still w-want me to c-come with y-you!"

Cuddles stared at the shocking statement from his friend, blinking slowly as he stood like a statue in the open. He then suddenly reached out and carefully hugged Flaky, making sure not to get his arms and hands pierced by her dirty quills on her back. He smiled and nodded his head. "Of course I still want you to come with me. Why would I say no to that?"

Flaky, too shocked to return the hug or speak, murmured under her breath. "I wish you did..."

"What was that?"

Flaky slowly broke the hug from Cuddles and brushed her flakes out of her quills, returning to her usual stutter. "O-Oh, nothing. So... w-who else do you think should come with us?"

Still holding the smile on his face, Cuddles place his right hand on his chin, making an 'hmm' sound with his closed mouth. "Well... I was just going over that just now. If you want to help, you can suggest some people to bring with us? You have a good eye of picking out good people, so I could use your input."

Flaky shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders as she looked down. "I guess I can take a look. I know some Tree Friends who might want to come with us..."

Cuddles made a large grin and gave an excited nod. "Great! Come in... oh, and watch your step. Don't want you getting hurt now before we go on the trip."

As Cuddles entered the house with a large grin, Flaky followed in pursuit in a depressed look. "Oh why do I let myself get involved with this stuff?"

 **So, please review and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Also, I leave you all with one optional question: If it were you, would you say yes or no?**


	2. The Devil's in the Details

**Hello folks, welcome to the second chapter of Things Just Got Real with my awesome co-author HTFan. We had a blast writing this chapter and we hope you have a blast reading it and finding out who's going with Cuddles and Flaky on their adventure... or death trap. Only time can tell which.**

 **Disclaimer: We do not own Happy Tree Friends. At this point we might buy it from Mondo if we weren't two college students without a dime to our names.**

Cuddles led Flaky over to the desk he had been working at and showed her the list, which Flaky was actually very surprised to see. With how much Cuddles seems to act on impulse, especially on the decision to go on this 'trip,' she hadn't expected him to put so much thought into who to bring with, but he had pretty much covered everyone.

Flaky's lips pursed slightly as she scrutinized every bullet point he had taken down before finally speaking in the clearest voice she could manage. "Well, it looks like your focusing on who will come out on top when maybe we should start with who will come out on bottom."

Cuddles rose in eyebrow at the suggestion running through what she could be saying. "You mean who we'd never take with us?"

Flaky nodded without looking up from the paper. "That's exactly what I'm saying." She looked over each name for a good example stopping on an obvious one and tapping the tip of the pencil against the name. "Right here. Cub? Isn't that Pop's one-year-old son?"

Cuddles just nodded looking down. "I wanted to make sure to cover everyone."

Flaky just shook her head and crossed out Cub's name. "I'm not taking a baby wherever we're going. He'd be safer here with Pop and that's really saying something."

Cuddles looked ready to say something to object to her reasoning but thought the wiser and kept his mouth. Cub was never a good idea to bring with in the first place and the reasoning for crossing him off didn't really change that.

Pleased to at least not hear any objections, Flaky tapped the name directly above Cub's thinking about more than just the idea of taking away the child's only parent. "It would be just plain stupid to bring any living weapons with us. They would make the idea even more dangerous."

"You're right there," Cuddles said, completely agreeing with both the choice and the reasoning this time. "Besides, they probably wouldn't have agreed since they rarely have to worry about dying anyways." Cuddles added as Flaky crossed off: Pop, Lumpy, Flippy, Splendid, Cro-Marmot, Mole, and Lammy.

"What about Nutty?" Cuddles suddenly asked. Flaky looked over at him a bit surprised but with a look that told him to go on. "What if there's no candy or sugar in this other world? When faced with withdrawal, he's just as dangerous as any of those you just crossed off."

She stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds. Beginning to question reality as the least sensible thing had just happened. Cuddles had realized an actual danger that she had overlooked. She wanted to accuse him of not be Cuddles right there but instead simply crossed out the name.

"I don't really want Lifty and Shifty coming either. They're just a pair of troublemaking thieves and would have to use up two spots on their own." Cuddles added thinking back to the time he tried to help them but they just took his mouse and let him get shredded to death by a pulley.

Flaky crossed their names off the list. They may have never stolen anything from her, she remembered being shook upside-down by the twins to make snow effects for the play. "So, that only leaves: Toothy, Giggles, Petunia, Handy, Sniffles, Mime, Russell, and Disco Bear." Flaky listed, tapping the last name in uncertainty.

Ignoring Flaky's concerned look at the name of the person whom she knew would only bring trouble, Cuddles lifted up the paper with a large grin on his face. "Well alright, then! We got our potential candidates right here! Anyone you think we should check out?"

Flaky, still feeling reluctant of wanting to bring anyone on this obviously dangerous trip to their deaths, looked at the names on the list and felt uneasy at trying to think anyone of them to be an actual benefit for the trip. Toothy's mixed bag of choices and similar reckless personality will cause trouble and influence the dangers Cuddles will most likely put upon himself. Petunia may freak out over the tiniest speck of dust the new world might have. Sniffles was a bumbling idiot that would probably make something to kill them all. Mime couldn't even speak if he tried. Russell's physical deficiencies could be troublesome. And Disco Bear was... Disco Bear.

This really left Giggles and Handy, though even them might have their share of problems when transitioning to whatever world they were going to visit, especially Handy considering he wasn't so... handy. Nonetheless, she still didn't want anyone to go...

Especially herself.

She shook her head. "I guess we should just go down the list and ask each one what they think..."

Cuddles jumped up to his feet with excitement. "Great! We'll start off with Toothy. I'm sure he'll want to see this for himself."

Remembering the events just a few minutes prior to meeting with Cuddles, Flaky placed a fake smile on her face as she lifted up her right hand. "I, um... say we should check on him last... maybe tomorrow, actually. He's a little... tired right now and we shouldn't disturb him until he wakes up, alright?"

Confused by Flaky's reluctance to check on Toothy first, Cuddles shook the thought off and looked at the list a second time. "Okay, then... I guess we'll start off with Giggles then. Come on, let's go!"

* * *

Cuddles busted out the door, excited to meet up with the potential candidates to bring on the trip. Flaky cautiously followed in pursuit against her will, and shook her head depressingly. "Oh boy, let's go find people to bring along and die with us. Yeah... fun..."

Cuddles stopped on the sidewalk checking his watch, though she thought she saw his eyes scan the street while he did. She shook off the thought. "Looks like perfect timing." He noted, pulling up her schedule in his brain. "She should just be getting off her shift at the hospital. Assuming she's still alive, we should be able to catch her there."

Cuddles made a turn heading in the direction of the worst place in town to work, hoping Giggles would see sense. Flaky trailed hesitantly behind him, hoping the same thing, just defining "sense" differently.

They got to the hospital just as Giggles was coming out, still in her nurse's uniform: hollow-faced, baggy-eyed, and glaring into empty space. Cuddles stopped in his tracks causing Flaky to run right into him having been looking all around her for any lurking dangers. "Why'd you stop?" She asked rubbing her nose but not finding any real damage.

"Look at her; it's not very fair to talk to her about it when she's like that." Cuddles noted. Even though she's more likely to say yes in this state, the decision would be fairly clouded.

Flaky was a bit confused but looked around him to see what he was referring to. She gasped at what she saw. "She looks like she was thrown off the back of a truck and beaten with a two-by-four."

"Or worse," Cuddles corrected, watching her turn back to the hospital with a glare. "Like she just finished a shift at the Happy Tree Hospital."

"It's really that bad?" Flaky asked him. It was fairly easy to guess that it would be a hard job with just the overall nature of the town cranking out so many brutal injuries but she had no idea what to make of the sight before her at that moment.

"She told me once that she ended up dying of exhaustion trying to keep Disco Bear alive after a heart attack and Dr. Lumpy just shocked her back to life and put her right back on the job not even a second later." Cuddles repeated the story he was told. "So, yes, it's that bad."

Knowing that, Flaky was having the same thoughts or not talking to her at that time, along with the previous thoughts about not talking to her about it at all but it was too late as Giggles spotted both of them.

Giggles, though nearly to the point of collapsing and falling over dead again, used whatever strength, both physical and mental, to place a small smile on her tired face, and waved to the two Tree Friends, who stared back questionably and with worry.

"Cuddles! Flaky! So good to see you two still alive and well!"

Though a little hesitant to speak to an exhausted Giggles, Cuddles straightened himself up and walked over to the pink chipmunk, standing still with a sluggish stance. "It's good to see you're alive too, Giggles."

As Flaky walked carefully behind Cuddles, Giggles shook her head and let out a tired sigh. "I'm not sure I'll be alive when working at this rate, Cuddles. If Lumpy keeps me working any longer, I might have to rely on Sniffles to patch me and everyone else up by who-knows-how... which is saddening because he hasn't showed up today yet..."

Cuddles and Flaky rubbed the back of their necks shyly, recalling the current status of the ill-fated anteater earlier today. "Yeah... I hope the guy's okay."

Giggles shook her head again. "If he doesn't show up in uniform, he'll probably show up here in a nasty body bag and I'll have to fix him up by some miraculous mean."

Seeing how Giggles was showing no sign of feeling even a touch of happiness, Cuddles tilted his head while pointing his right index finger behind him. "Is this a bad time? I'll come back tomorrow if-"

Giggles weakly brought up her right palm to silence Cuddles. "It's okay, Cuddles. My shift is over now and I can finally take a much needed break. I can talk."

Cuddles kept his worried expression, though was delighted to see his friend still having the mental strength to stand and talk. "Alright, um..." He rubbed his chin with his paw lightly and nodded his head with a smile. "You see, Flaky and I here were thinking of doing something really cool, and we were thinking if you would like to be a part of it!"

Flaky shook her head and spoke to herself depressingly. "We? You're the one that wanted to do this to start. I'm just forced to do what you say because heaven-forbid I get to have a say in anything you do."

Giggles went from a tired and depressed look to a curious and attentive one. She tilted her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Something cool? What exactly is it?"

Cuddles looked over at Flaky, still looking down with an expression that said 'I don't want to be here,' and patted her back lightly, making her jolt and drop a small quantity of white flakes on the ground. He smiled and gestured his head towards Giggles. "Well, go on, Flaky. Tell her what we have in mind!"

"Stop saying 'we.' There is no 'we' here."

Completely hesitant on doing this, and wishing not to bring another innocent person along on this trip, Flaky cleared her throat and placed a heavily forced smile on her face, nodding her head towards Giggles while speaking in a cheerful tone.

"Cuddles and I... found a way that can actually take us away from this world and transport us to a whole new one, separate from here, and we can bring a few other friends with us. So we were wondering if you would like-"

Giggles instantly removed her blood-stained nurse uniform and threw it aside, not caring where it landed or if it ended killing someone. She took in a deep breath and brought a determined look on her face. "When do we leave?"

Cuddles and Flaky both just stared at her in shock and a bit of confusion. Sure, she didn't know where there deal had come from but neither of them were expecting such an enthusiastic response with no question. Flaky in particular wondered if the exhaustion had somehow eaten away at her brain. Certainly wouldn't be the craziest thing that's ever happened.

Giggles had noticed that. "What? There's nothing else I need to know. I hate it all. I'm sick of dying and I'm sick of living as Lumpy's slave!" she shouted, with a certain fire they had never seen in their friend and hadn't even considered could exist.

Just on cue, the hospital door opened and out came Doctor Lumpy, wearing his surgeon uniform and carrying someone's brain, who was surprised and infuriated to find Giggles' nurse's uniform plastered across the windshield of a now crashed car. "Giggles, you need to work overtime right now! We got more bodies coming through the door. No excuses; get back in uniform and come in now!"

Though too afraid to say anything about it, Flaky looked at her watch, to see she wasn't even off work for even three minutes. And with the amount of work to do, she wouldn't be off work until the next day.

Giggles, however, turned to the town's tyrant with the same fire from earlier never leaving her eyes. "No, I quit."

Cuddles and Flaky's eyes pretty much covered their whole faces. You can't quit in Happy Tree Town. It simply wasn't an option for anyone in any job, besides Lumpy of course. The notion itself was so ridiculous that Lumpy actually laughed at it before saying in a dark way, "Did you forget who you're talking to? I own literally everything in this town! If you quit from this job I can guarantee that you won't be able to find work everywhere and everything you fooled yourself into thinking you own will be gone! I'm giving you only one more chance to come back into the hospital and get back to work!"

All three friends knew the threats well and how real they were, it was the same way Lumpy got anyone in town to do any job he wants them to. However, with the one way ticket out of this world, the threats blew right off Giggles without a second thought. "No!" she repeated.

Lumpy fumed for a few seconds before saying, now perfectly calm, "Fine, don't say I didn't warn you," before returning back into the hospital himself.

Silence reigned over the three in pure shock and disbelief. As far as they knew, it was a first in Happy Tree Town. Flaky was, surprisingly, the first to finally speak up, "Well, I guess she has to go now."

Giggles gave a nasty scowl towards the hospital, shaking her head as she could feel what felt like a heavy burden being uplifted from her heart. For the first time in what possibly felt like forever, she could let out a relieved sigh, finally having a sense of freedom... even in a world filled with death. She turned back to face Cuddles and Flaky, and nodded her head with a cheerful smile. "So... when are we leaving again?"

Cuddles and Flaky looked at each other swiftly, still stunned by the fast chain of events occurring in just a blink of an eye, and hoped if one had a clear answer to give. Cuddles shrugged his shoulders and face Giggles, rubbing the back of his neck with his left paw as he attempted to speak calmly. "Well... we still have two more slots to fill before we can actually go, so... you'll have to wait just a little longer... yeah..."

Giggles' smile slowly dropped as she brought her arms to cross in front of her. Cuddles gulped as he could see the rising anger noticeable from her eyes, giving him a stern look that told him she was not happy with his choice of words.

"Cuddles, in just under a minute, I quit my job, lost my home and have no place to stay in , and now you're telling me that we are not going now?!"

Cuddles raised his hands up while laughing with an obviously frightened tone. "W-W-Well, w-we did j-just ask you if you wanted to come with us or not. We didn't expect you to just... go and quit your job like that!"

Before Giggles could open her mouth and chew off Cuddles' ears out of anger, Flaky got in front of Cuddles and raised her hands to Giggles, placing a fake smile on her face as she prayed what she was going to say would soothe her. "You can stay at my place until we are ready, though! It's nice and safe there, and you can sleep comfortably there until everything is ready! That sounds good... right?"

Giggles thought about the deal for a moment, and nodded her head with the annoyed look she had with Cuddles. "Yeah, I guess that can work. Just don't take long, alright? The sooner we leave this world and the farther away I get from that blue tyrant, the better!"

The two Tree Friends watched Giggles walk off, waving her right hand goodbye towards them as she spoke with a happy tone again. "I'm just going to grab whatever I can from my house and take it before Lumpy gets rid of it. I'll meet you back at Flaky's house."

Flaky and Cuddles both waved to Giggles, and looked at each other with concerned looks. Flaky looked down for a moment and spoke softly. "Two more people to bring... who are we supposed to talk to next?"

Cuddles took out the list of names again and scrolled through the ones available for questioning. It took him only a few seconds to point out the next target on their list. "Why don't we give Petunia a visit and see what she thinks? She should be at home right now."

Flaky sighed, still regretting every bit of bringing the most innocent people along for the ride, and nodded her head with a forced smile. "Sure, let's do it... yeah..."

Cuddles ignored Flaky's depressed tone and placed a large grin on his face, happy to run off to find and bring their next vict- no, 'friend' along for the trip. Flaky followed in his footsteps, looking down every step of the way and hoping for some kind of miracle to bring it to an end.

In this world, though, she had better chances winning the lottery then stopping Cuddles from this trip. So, without further questions, she kept up with Cuddles and made their trip to Petunia's home.

It didn't take long traversing through the devastation and death that laid between them and Petunia's home. There were a few rough patches here and there, with obvious signs of Fliqpy's work splattered across some of the sidewalks and buildings downtown, but luckily, both came out unscathed. For the time being, at least.

* * *

They stood out front of the lovely home of Petunia's. A well decorated front yard with beautiful flowers were planted, and the place seemed completely absent of any particles of dirt and grime. The stone steps leading to the house were even clean to the point that one could eat food off of it. It was downright spotless as ever, with the interior definitely looking ever more-so pleasant.

Both smiling in amazement at the house, Cuddles proceeded to walk up to the house and stood in front of the door. He turned his head to face Flaky and gave her a concerned look as he held his right hand to the wooden door. "Remember to wipe your feet before getting in. You know how she is with... dirt and stuff."

Flaky nodded her head, though began having questionable thoughts. Dirt and stuff? There was plenty of that here, but what about the other world? Could there be more of it? Could it be even dirtier than their world? Petunia would die of cardiac arrest if the world they went to had even a touch of filth the first step they took. Perhaps it would be better if they just left-

"Petunia? You there? It's me, Cuddles; I wanted to ask you something..."

Flaky went silent as Cuddles knocked on the door, alerting anyone inside and removing their chance of leaving Petunia alone. Flaky stood patiently as she watched Cuddles sit with an impatient stance, tapping his right foot on the stone step beneath him.

Flaky tilted her head and had a questionable look on her face. "Maybe she's not-"

Her voice was instantly silenced as Petunia came bursting out the front door, slamming it open and knocking Cuddles straight onto the ground hard. His nose broke and his face bruised by the impact of the door slamming against his body, with the hard hit on the ground against his head not doing any favors, but yet miraculously survived.

As Cuddles laid on the ground in pain, Flaky stood back in shock as she turned to face a terrified looking Petunia, screaming hysterically in an insane manner. "Petunia?! What's wrong with you?!" After taking a close look at her, Flaky could already tell what the problem was. Petunia's body was covered with dirt and filth, with the smell of sewage staining her once beautiful blue fur. She smelled like death. "Oh God, not again..."

Petunia looked around her yard, frantically searching every bit of it in an effort to find some way of getting clean. "MUST! GET! CLEAN!" She turned and faced the garden shed, and smiled insanely as she ran inside to clean off the filth by any means.

Knowing it was not worth fighting at this point, Flaky let Petunia go and face her fate as she walked up to help Cuddles up to his feet, who was groaning in pain. "You okay, Cuddles? You could've died just now!"

Cuddles wiped the blood off his broken nose as he made a fake chuckle. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not done with the day yet, so Death is just going to have to wait a little while longer for me."

Flaky was concerned with Cuddles instant acceptance of death, as if it were bound any minute, though was glad to see himself able to walk again. She helped brushed some of the dirt off his fur as she spoke calmly. "Well, I don't think we're going to get an opinion out of Petunia today. Maybe we... should..."

She went silent as the two both looked up to see the inside the house. While appearing clean, they could hear the angry voice of a familiar beaver banging against the walls and pipes of the house, spewing out profane words that are too graphic to mention here.

Flaky walked forward a bit and pointed her right index finger toward the entrance. "Is that Handy?"

Cuddles nodded, which was not doing fun things to his head, making his way inside, "Undeniably, I've never heard anyone else in this town get that frustrated over anything... except maybe Nutty when he can't get his candy." He looked to the door to the basement with great hesitation on approaching the beaver at this time after what happened with Giggles, but he also remembered from what happened with Giggles how urgent this search now was. He didn't particularly want to talk to Handy in this state but he didn't have many other options. "Well, let's go ask Handy..." he hesitated and added with a great sense of importance, "and we'll make sure to include all the information we have at this point."

Flaky nodded, already knowing full well that he's not going to take no as an answer, part of her hoped that he wouldn't make her be the one to ask but another part of her feared how he would ask the question.

* * *

In an almost robotic manner, Flaky followed Cuddles down to the basement finding it not as bad as the horror stories of the dreaded day but the filth was easily past their knees if they hadn't stayed on the stairs, even though neither of them have OCD, nothing could get them down into the water.

Handy had little choice though as he stood knee deep in the sewage just as covered in it as Petunia was. He continued to spew profanities, in spite of the wrench clenched in his teeth as he tried seemingly futile to fix her pipes, his nubby arms making it significantly more difficult than it would already be for an able-bodied Tree Friend.

It was a while before Handy noticed them and when he did, he completely misjudged why they were there. "I don't need your guys' help."

"We're not here to try to help," Cuddles told him, then regretted the poor wording there. Though, in his defense, he is fighting a concussion and Handy didn't seem to mind.

"Alright, why are you here then?" He asked, struggling to hold up the pipe with his nubs while he tried to bolt it into place.

"Well, we'll pretty much need your full attention for this." Cuddles added carefully, not wanting anything to get lost or misunderstood because he was trying to focus on the pipes and unlike most jobs since this was in someone's house, Lumpy wouldn't really find out if he stops for a minute or two.

Handy looked back over at the injured rabbit and realized how serious he was letting go of the pipe which had enough bolts on one side to keep it out of the sewage, just not connected to the other pipe. "Alright, just let me figure out where to put this wrench. I'd rather not have that junk on anything that has to go in my mouth." Handy looked around and ended up putting it on a shelf that will hopefully stay relatively dry and gave his full attention to the duo.

Though Flaky didn't notice, Cuddles grabbed onto the one railing in hopes to stop the room from spinning and wished there was a second railing on the side with the sheer drop. The room was still spinning like a top but he tried to sound as sure as he could as he said, "Can you promise to listen to everything we have to say before doing anything rash?"

Handy looked confused at the request wondering what it could mean and what rash thing he might even do but nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'll listen. So, what is it?"

"Well, earlier today, Flaky and I were at the playground and I came across what was apparently a cursed statue thing." Cuddles explained carefully, surprising Flaky that he actually brought that part up, he really wasn't kidding when he said to include all the information they have. "It started talking to us, actual talking. It threatened us at first but it also had an offer for us, for five Tree Friends to leave this world to another one where we wouldn't have to die every day. We don't know when we would leave or even what this world would be like and have no reason to trust this statue, but we..." He looked back at Flaky who was not happy and quickly corrected himself, "I... figured it's worth the risk. Three spots are already taken by the two of us and Giggles so there's two spots left and I was wondering if you wanted to take one."

Cuddles stopped his spiel and waited for Handy's response. Handy was clearly shocked and seemed to bounce the idea around in his head instead of diving in head first like Giggles had. He looked at the pipes, down at his nubs, and up at the light bulb dangling from the ceiling for reasons that Flaky and Cuddles could not figure out. After a few seconds of intense thought, Handy looked back at them and answered. "I'm in."

Flaky was surprised by that response, she hadn't expected anyone to be able to know everything about the deal, actually think it over, and still think it's a good idea to go. _'Am I the only one in this whole town with any sense?'_ she thought, surprising even herself.

Cuddles, however, smiled at this. "Great! Then we only have one more spot left to fill. We'll let you know if we get any more information." Cuddles let go of the railing and turned around to go back up but doing so was more than enough to completely lose whatever balance he had and fall face first into the filthy water.

Flaky screamed at this and rushed into the filth herself to check the off chance that he survived. On the contrary, Handy started laughing and remarked, "Well, saw that coming."

Flaky turned to the handless beaver in shock, she had forgotten how apathetic he could be towards the other Tree Friends' deaths and suffering. That and she simply didn't understand how he could have seen Cuddles taking a face plant off the stairwell coming. "How could you say that?"

Handy looked at her still laughing a bit. "What? It was obvious the whole time that he was badly concussed. I'm actually surprised he managed to stay on his feet for as long as he did."

Flaky's anger at Handy quickly transferred to anger at herself. "He had a concussion?" She asked in a soft voice. "How did I not notice that?" Handy shrugged at the second question taking his wrench back in his teeth and setting back to work on the pipes. Flaky thought back to when Cuddles was clubbed with the door and, in hindsight, remembered him hitting his head in the fall. She also remembered some signs of a concussion when he was talking with her and felt like a terrible friend.

Even more determined to check on him now, Flaky started searching for him but his body was completely submerged and she lost track of where he fell. The filth also offered absolutely zero transparency. Still she searched with a dogged determination.

After a while of looking and finding nothing, she heard Handy calling her name and turned to him. "Flaky, you're wasting your time; if the fall didn't kill him, he would have drown by now."

Tears filled Flaky's eyes as she realized he was right. Without a word, she went back upstairs and headed home. She sure as hell wasn't going to continue the search for other innocent tree friends alone.

She arrived to her own house in one piece pulling out a key ring that looks like it belongs to a janitor and unlocked the numerous locks on her front door, each of which had a different key. Many Tree Friends had commented to her that having so many locks on every entrance to her house was a complete overkill but because of it, she and Splendid remained the only ones in town who have never been robbed.

* * *

The next morning, she waiting impatiently for Cuddles knowing that he should be back to life by now. Perhaps it would have been best for her to wait inside at the comforts of her own home instead of standing in the open, subjecting her to the many possible ways Death could bestow on her, but all she wanted to do now was get the final candidates out of the way and finish this awful trip once and for all.

Flaky stood nervously outside a small house built out of tall and sturdy tree. She looked around nervously, keeping her eyes on every moving object that surrounded her, prepared for anything to-

"Hey!"

Flaky yelled at the top of her lungs, jumping down to the dirt below and covering her head as if a bomb was about to fall. The many flakes resting in her quills blanketed the ground around her, and her body shivered in fear from the sudden noise.

She stopped and got out of her panic mode as she heard a chuckle above her. "Jeez, Flaky, does every little thing actually scare you?"

Flaky got up to her feet and brushed the dirt off her chest, turning around with an annoyed expression as she saw the snickering yellow rabbit behind her. "Cuddles, that wasn't funny! You know I get scared easily when you jump out behind me like that!"

Cuddles only chuckled harder as Flaky gave him the annoyed stare after making her statement. "Flaky, everything seems to scare you easily."

Flaky shook her head while crossing her arms. "N-Not everything..."

Cuddles brought up his right hand, pointing to each individual finger as he made his rebuttal. "Let's see. You are scared of water, roller coasters, little birds, darkness, driving, flying, rats, sharks, heights, skiing... Flaky, you're pretty much scared of everything."

Flaky's cheeks blushed redder than her body out of embarrassment as Cuddles pointed out her fears in front of her. Though in hindsight, many of those fears of hers were things that got other people killed... and sometimes herself, so naturally having a fear of these things seemed normal to those not afraid in this world. Flaky sighed as she gestured her head to the house behind her. "Can we please just get this over with?"

Cuddles nodded his head with an eager smile. "Sure!"

The two turned to face the nicely built house and proceeded to march down the walkway towards the front entrance. As they walked side to side, Flaky looked at Cuddles with a rather saddened look. She felt awful about the events occurring yesterday, letting her one 'friend' walk with a concussion and leave him for dead at Petunia's house. She should have made him walk home and call it an end for the day, but instead she let Cuddles walk to his death... and drown in it. With guilt getting to her, Flaky could not stop herself from speaking in a quiet tone. "Um... Cuddles?"

Cuddles looked over at Flaky, still holding his eager looking smile. "Yes, Flaky?"

"I'm... I'm sorry about yesterday. I should have-"

Cuddles brought up his hand and waved it aside, silencing her as he made a light chuckle. "Ah, forget about it, Flaky. Seriously, I died from a lot worse than being hit with a door. Whales crushing my body, being filled with chair stuffing, and killed by a damn claw machine... still can't get my finger around how I got in there... three times from that matter... still, it's nothing, Flaky. Let's focus on the now and forget about the past."

Flaky nodded her head, though was baffled still at Cuddles acceptance of his death so easily. No matter how hard she wrapped her head around it, she could never get herself to accept death as easily as he could.

Which only brought the fear of what death could be like in the other world. In an entirely separate world, does the mechanics of death work like their own world... or something with even more severe consequences?

Flaky snapped out of her trance as she found herself now in front of the door at the house. Cuddles, hopping up and down in excitement, knocked on the door three times, speaking loudly to announce the person inside their presence. "Hey, Toothy, it's me, Cuddles! You here, man?"

The two stood in front of the door patiently, awaiting for Toothy's appearance... if he was still alive, of course. For precautionary measures, Cuddles and Flaky stood out of the door's reach, making perfectly sure not to be hit a second time.

It didn't take long to notice the purple friendly beaver to open the door gently with a smile on his face. He waved his right hand towards them, his voice energetic and joyful. "Cuddles! Flaky! How are you two doing?"

Cuddles shrugged his shoulders as Flaky remained silent. "Oh, nothing much. Just another usual day in Happy Tree Town, just like yesterday, you know?"

Toothy slowly brought his hand up to his eye, covering it carefully as he nodded his head. "Yeah... just like yesterday..." He shook his head as he brought his smile back. "So, what is it you two want?"

Cuddles turned to Flaky and patted her on the shoulder, signaling her to give the message that she found as the equivalent of a death wish. She cleared her throat and spoke with a calm demeanor.

"Well... you see, me and Cuddles have found a way to... well, simply put, to leave this world and enter a new one, completely separate of this one. We don't know what it is, but we do know we can take three other people with us to this new world. Giggles and Handy already agreed to come with us, so we want to know if you want to come with us."

Toothy stood in awe for a brief moment, his eyes turning big like puppy eyes as an energetic smile formed on his face. "A new world?! Different from this one?! Of course I'll go on this trip! How do we get there?"

Flaky chuckled shyly as she rubbed her quills nervously. "Um... we're not entirely sure how it will work, only that it will be done through the Cursed Idol we found at the playground."

The excited look on Toothy's face dropped instantaneously, and he looked at both Cuddles and Flaky with a concerned stare. "Cursed Idol? You mean... that bronze looking statue... that kills people... that Cursed Idol?"

Cuddles shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, pretty much. So, you still want to come with us?"

Toothy gave a blank stare in response before looking at his feet. He brought his right hand to his chin, rubbing it gently as he mumbled to himself quietly.

"Well... going to a new world would be fun... though the Cursed Idol does kill people... and he did kill me at the swing set one time... but maybe he changed since then... though that's unlikely... but a new world could mean we'd escape his wrath... though he could be there too... but it give me something to do for fun... though I could still die there... but..."

As Toothy rambled to himself for multiple minutes, Flaky leaned over to Cuddles and whispered quietly in his ear. "Um... Cuddles... will Toothy make up his mind soon?"

Cuddles stood still for a moment before letting out a soft sigh. "I don't know. The guy has always been... all over the place, never really sticking to one thing. He's like one guy that can be dozens of others at any time... so it might be a while until he makes up his own mind..."

Flaky and Cuddles looked at each other for a moment in silence before looking back at Toothy, still looking down at his feet. The two slowly started to step back, Cuddles speaking up as they started to walk away. "Will be back later, Toothy. Just think about it."

As Cuddles and Flaky walked away, Toothy aimlessly walked away from his house to get some fresh air, rambling to himself simultaneously.

* * *

Toothy wondered around town, which at this time of day was still deceptively peaceful, still arguing with himself and not just in his head either. "Well, if I go to this other world, then I probably won't have to die every day, and my eyes could certainly use that break."

As he walked and looked at the other houses he passed, another drawback entered his mind. "What about my other friends? There's only one spot left and if I take it, anyone that doesn't already have a spot would have no way of reaching me."

Toothy stopped in his tracks, rubbing his temples with his index fingers before letting out a sigh, "Oh, why does this have to be so hard." Suddenly, he looked around finally realizing that he was alone. "Hmm, where did Cuddles and Flaky go? What am I even supposed to do if I decide I want to go?"

After a few seconds of thoughtful labor, he remembered something they mentioned, "I guess it would be the best bet to head to the playground if that's what I want but how can I even think about trusting that… that thing."

While Toothy continued to argue with himself like a crazy person, he hadn't realized that he wasn't as alone as he thought he was. There was another Tree Friend listening to his every word. This Tree Friend had much clearer thoughts on the idea and, closer to Cuddles or Giggles, saw the thought as too good to even think about not going. Without warning, the Tree Friend broke into a full on sprint towards the playground.

Just before that Tree Friend could make it to the playground though, they were tackled to the ground by another Tree Friend.

 **Cliffhanger! Who is this mystery Tree Friend? Will they make it on the trip or will the other Tree Friend stop him long enough for Toothy to take it? Why did that other Tree Friend tackle him/her? Where the heck are they even going?! Find out the answers to these questions and more in Chapter 3. For now, please review and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.**


	3. Sent For a World

**Hello readers, I have tragic news regarding this story. My lovely co-author HTFan has stopped being, well, an HTFan and will no longer be co-authoring this story. Before you grieve though, this is not goodbye for this story. Instead, I, Better a Freak Than a Fake, will be finishing this beautiful story alone. This is my personal favorite of all of my fanfics and I will not let it be forgotten. Hopefully the quality of the story doesn't drop.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends. All rights go to Mondo Media.**

The Tree Friend gritted his teeth as he skidded across what was luckily grass but as unforgiving as anything else in this town. In the fall, he could feel his left arm snap and a few lacerations cut their way through his stomach and chest though not deep enough to take his organs with the momentum. Not only was he alive but he wasn't seriously injured.

It wasn't the fall itself that had him worried though. It was the cause of the fall. He was no idiot, by the town's standards at least, maybe even outside of them, he knew he was tackled and he was almost certain of who it was that brought him down.

Just the Tree Friend he was intending to escape in addition to the pain of death. The reason that he wouldn't have went if there was more than one spot left. The one who screwed him over for far too long and, unlike most of the town, it was not the tyrannical blue moose.

His face hardened as he pushed himself around with his good arm and predictably found himself staring into the cold, cruel eyes of a face not unlike his own. The fact brought bile to his throat every time he thought about it so he tried not to but it was undeniable. "Get off of me, Shifty!" he hissed, filled with only hatred and determination at the moment as he tried to squirm out of his twin's body trap.

Shifty's gaze hardened as well locking the raccoons into an intense staring battle as if they were both trying to burn through the other's skull. Having clearly seen the bone sticking out, Shifty grabbed onto Lifty's broken arm and squeezed prompting an instinctual scream. "You honestly think I didn't hear that big toothed weirdo? There's no way you're leaving this world, then who would do the grunt work on our heists."

In spite of the pain, Lifty held his own glare. "You can't stop me!" With that, Lifty actually spat up in his twin's face.

Shifty only growled, wiping the spit off with his free hand before placing it around Lifty's neck and the other hand soon followed moving from his arm. "Oh but I will, even if I have to kill you to do it." With each word, the grip on his own brother's neck tightened completely cutting off his air supply.

As Lifty struggled, he had flashbacks to the time in the hot air balloon... and the other time in the submarine. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that his own flesh and blood was going to strangle him to death, which was only amplified by the blackening of his vision. Today, more than any other time in his immortality, he just had to stay alive or he'd never be able to escape.

He could feel his face going numb and knew he would be gone if he didn't do something fast. With barely any vision left, Lifty lifted his good arm and sent a good punch right for where he hoped Shifty's nose was.

Luck would have it, the punch had connected shattering Shifty's nose and sending him back enough for Lifty to escape.

Not wasting a second, Lifty got out from underneath Shifty gasping to bring air to his starving lungs as he got to his feet and tried to run, which was clumpy and awkward, his muscles screamed from hypoxia and he wasn't even sure if he was going in the right direction.

It wasn't long before he was grabbed from behind and he didn't have the physical strength to escape. He only had one chance and he wasn't even sure it would work from here or if he could gather up enough air power to make any noise at all. In spite of this, Lifty yelled as loud as he could possibly manage. "I want to go to the other world!" The attempt was meek and pathetic, and hurt Lifty a lot to even attempt but something still did come out, just barely.

They were both shocked to hear the same sadistic laugh Cuddles and Flaky had the previous day distracting Shifty enough to not kill him right then and there. "Aw, but I was having so much fun watching that. Alright, you can go on the trip."

"Then I want to go, too!" Shifty demanded. Scaring Lifty that the Cursed Idol that it might agree to let him go just to torture him.

The idol wasn't having any of that though and said in a voice that said that this is not open for negotiation, "There are no more spots left. You'll just have to stay back in this world without him, Shifty."

Shifty growled and turned Lifty, who had mostly regained his vision, around to face him hissing, "So what? That's it? You're just going to leave your brother? Your own flesh and blood to die? And you call yourself a..." Shifty couldn't finish that sentence as his skull collapsed in on itself spilling blood and brain matter across the grass silencing him for the day and the last Lifty will ever have to hear.

Speaking of the battered raccoon in question, he stood, still gasping for breath but now he had a bloodied stone clutched in his paw. For the first and last time in his immortality, Lifty had intentionally killed someone... and he didn't regret it one bit. "You fucking hypocrite," Lifty whispered weakly but feeling a strong sense of relief for too many reasons for most people to imagine as he smiled. Not his usual mischievous grin, a genuine smile.

Similar to Giggles quitting her job, he had wanted to do that for as long as he could remember but he was always afraid of what would happen the next day. Now he didn't have to worry about that anymore. He was finally free.

* * *

While Lifty stood triumphantly and satisfied over the death of his dreaded brother, and knowing he will be once and for all rid of his constant troubles, Cuddles and Flaky were having their own troubles trying to find a final candidate to fill up the remaining slot, though unbeknownst to them it was now fully taken by a particular thief they had no intention to bring in the first place.

Luckily, it seemed the massive blood-lust the town had was going to take it slower today, with no noticeable destruction or death in plain sight. Cuddles felt carefree with the atmosphere filled with less red, though Flaky trembled now and then when the sudden sound of a car driving by, or even a chirping bird. Silence wasn't exactly a good sign to her. It only meant something bad was waiting to happen.

While Flaky followed Cuddles with her frightened posture all the way through the depths of Happy Tree Town, Cuddles sighed in annoyance as he crossed off a few more names on his list. Petunia showed clear signs she was not fit at all to go with them, and Toothy's neutral stance on all of this was only going to stall their trip. Sniffles was out busy today walking what appeared to be a new purple acidic blob, and no matter how hard they tried to talk to him, Mime refused to speak up and give an answer, thus took it simply as 'No.' As for Russell, he seemed too busy with his restaurant business, so Flaky suggested they kindly skip him for now.

This left only one last person to check off on the list, and Flaky wasn't exactly too excited to ask this particular Tree Friend to tag along on this trip.

Cuddles held up the paper to him, pointing out the last name at the bottom of the list. "I guess this just leaves Disco Bear now, Flaky. If he says no, I guess we'll just go with the four of us. But hey, might as well fill the slot if we can, right?"

Flaky shrugged her shoulders, not exactly knowing how to respond considering that this was Disco Bear they were about to interview for filling the slot.

As they continued to walk down the sidewalk heading towards the further edges of Happy Tree Town, Flaky broke the silence by hurrying up to Cuddles' left side and speaking softly. "What about Giggles? Doesn't she, like, hate Disco Bear or something?"

Cuddles chuckled as he turned his head to face Flaky. "Heh, well, it's not like she'll have to worry about him on this trip if he decides to come. I'll be with her every step of the way, so Disco Bear isn't going to have a chance to lay a hand on her."

Flaky looked away from Cuddles for a moment, shaking her head. "You... really sound kind of obsessed with Giggles. It doesn't sound healthy."

Cuddles shrugged his shoulders. "So, I have a few photos and stuff of her; that doesn't mean I'm obsessive."

Flaky murmured to herself quietly. "Few is an understatement..."

Cuddles made another soft chuckle as he faced forward again. "Besides, you see her face when Disco Bear is always around her and Petunia. She really tends to share the same opinion with Petunia, and I can't blame her. Hell, I bet if the man tried to dance with her she wouldn't even crack a smile. But hey, someone has to take the spot, so if he wants to come, he can."

Flaky shook her head as she trailed back behind Cuddles. "Whatever you say, Cuddles."

After a few more minutes of walking through town, Cuddles raised his hand out to Flaky and stopped her suddenly. Flaky looked up in confusion before dropping her jaw in awe of the sight Cuddles was staring at as well.

Cuddles looked at his list again and to the house multiple times until nodding his head, pointing his right index finger at the house in front of them while his eyes stared in awe at its size. "There it is... Disco Bear's house."

Flaky looked alongside Cuddles at what looked like possibly one of the most elegantly decorated buildings in Happy Tree Town. Compared to Cuddles', Toothy's, or even Lumpy's old trailer, this house was high-class quality. The exterior of the house alone showed that plenty of work went into this place, and was far from the affordable ranges the other Tree Friends could pay for with their jobs, aside from Lumpy and his dozens of careers.

Cuddles nodded his head as he made a short whistle. "He sure was able to make good money for his music. I don't think this is even the only house he owns. Doesn't he have some small cabin up in the mountains as well?"

Flaky made a fake grin as she nodded her head. "Yes, yes he does... also a chain-link fence around it, but yes."

Cuddles chuckled lightly as he progressed towards Disco Bear's house. "Well damn, the guy made well for himself. Though let's not waste time out here if we intend to stay alive to ask him. Come on, Flaky."

Flaky nodded her head and followed Cuddles once more up to Disco Bear's house, right in front of the well-carved door at the entrance.

Flaky took a breath in through her nose trying not to think too hard about how this might go and failing at that goal as she knocked on the front door and waited, becoming a bit more antsy than normal even. Cuddles noticed this with regret and was having serious doubts himself about being here but it was already far too late for either of them to turn back as the door opened.

He seemed excited at first until he saw Cuddles and Flaky. "Oh, it's just you two." Flaky looked down at her feet, frowning a bit at the thinly-veiled insult. Even though she sure as hell would never want to date him, it still hurt to be completely disregarded by the town flirt all the time. "What brings you to my pad?"

"There's actually something we need to talk to you about but it's a bit private, could we come inside maybe."

"That's not my bag but I can dig it. Don't be a bogart and lay it on me," Disco Bear said, stepping aside with the door wide open. Though, neither Cuddles nor Flaky really had any idea what he just said, they figured by the gesture that they could come in, so they did.

Though the design, was odd to say the least, the inside was even more extravagant than the outside was, even from the entryway here. Flaky and Cuddles could only gawk a bit having never been there before. Before they made it outside, this wasn't what they had expected at all.

"So, what is it?" Disco Bear asked, pulling them out of the trance.

Neither answered for a few seconds, during which Cuddles started thinking about how Flaky clearly hadn't liked explaining it and noted that, as a consequence, she had left out crucial details with both Giggles and Toothy, the former leading to disastrous results that for some unworldly reason, he was blamed for.

For her sake, his own sake, and… dare he say it, Disco Bear's sake. Cuddles spoke up on his own, explaining it just as he had to Handy, being much easier when the room is standing still, besides the cascading lights all around them from the disco ball above head. Its presence made even Cuddles a bit uncomfortable on what could so easily happen. He shifted his weight a bit more out of the way as he waited for Disco Bear to think it over.

After a few seconds he asked, "You said Giggles is taggin'?" Cuddles nodded truthfully despite knowing he could regret that. "Alriiiight, I can dig…" Before he could even finish his odd sentence, the predicted happened as the rope holding the disco ball snapped. Flaky and Cuddles were fairly uninjured but the disco ball came shattering down on Disco Bear's head, killing him almost instantly.

They both gasped. It wasn't the death or gore that terrified them this time though, it was the object sitting in the middle of the broken glass, somehow free of any blood. "It's too late," The Cursed Idol stated in an ipso facto matter. Cuddles and Flaky just looked at each other hoping the other would know what the Idol could possibly mean, there was never any time limit or anything giving. "What I mean, is that all five spots are filled."

Flaky rose an eyebrow at Cuddles who only shrugged in response, only having one idea of how that could be possible. "I guess Toothy must have finally made up his mind?"

The Cursed Idol only laughed, knowing neither of them (or Giggles and Handy) will like who the fifth "friend" is. "Well, you'll see very soon." The Cursed Idol said, catching back their attention before disappearing as suddenly as it appeared leaving Cuddles and Flaky to wonder how they're supposed to get to this "other world". Without warning though, they both fell unconscious.

In different parts of town, Giggles, Handy, and Lifty did the same.

* * *

Cuddles was the first to wake up and when he did, it was immediately obvious that he wasn't in Happy Tree Town anymore. They were alone in the middle of what appeared to be a park but everything seemed much more detailed and the colors weren't so bright, also, there was no blood, corpses, or organs anywhere in sight.

And it wasn't just the world around him that was different but even more so with his own body. His limbs were much longer and his head much smaller, most notably though, his skin appeared pale and devoid of any fur. He also noticed that he was wearing clothes, a loose shirt that's sleeves ended at his new elbow and a pair of pants made of a blue material he didn't recognize. Looking at his feet though, he found a pink pair of bunny slippers very similar to his own though fit to his new body. He reached a hand up finding some hair on his head that appeared to be the same shade of yellow as his fur used to be.

He looked at the others around him, all of which were still unconscious but had about the same kind of body but with some differences. The one next to him, he assumed very quickly must be Flaky by the long red hair that appeared to still have a lot of dandruff though in much smaller pieces. She had on black pants but much shorter not even reaching her knees and a red shirt that was more fitting than his with shorter sleeves as well.

He also noticed two lumps on her chest, with a raised eyebrow. He did notice the one next to her had lumps, too.

He went over, though it was very hard for him to move at all with the different body proportions, the long limbs were hard to keep track of and he was way less top heavy, something he was used to compensating for, the result made him look something like a puppet when he tries to walk. Once he got over, he realized it was Giggles from the chin length pink hair with a red bow on top. She had a shirt like Flaky's but instead of pants, what seemed to be just one piece of pink cloth wrapped around her waist.

Frowning, he poked one of the lumps on her chest wondering what the heck they are and why he doesn't have any. "Cuddles? What are you doing?" A voice suddenly asked from Cuddles' left. The voice was speaking fluent Gibberish, the native language of Happy Tree Town. Not only that, but Cuddles would recognize the soft but high-pitched voice with its constant shake anywhere.

Sure enough, when he turned around the face the voice, he found Flaky sitting up, with her knees drawn to her chest as she trembled heavily, her eyes were wide open but still much smaller than they used to be and the pupils looked more like Fliqpy's than her own but blue where his were gold colored. He wondered if his own eyes looked the same. "I was just trying to figure out what these lumps are. I don't seem to have any."

At that, Flaky looked down at her own chest noticing that she had a pair of lumps as well and screamed trying to push them off but they appeared to be attacked to her. Looking over the rest of her new body didn't make her feel any more comfortable. "Where's my fur? I feel so naked." As if suddenly remembering where she was and why she was there, Flaky immediately buried her face in her knees in a full fetal position.

Cuddles frowned at this, as common as it was for Flaky to get like this, it still concerned him. He got back up and tried to make his way back to her. "Hey, Flaky, you're ok-Ay!" He was cut off by his own scream as he tripped over his own new legs.

That pulled Flaky out of her fetal position finding him fallen right beside her. "Oh my gosh! Cuddles!" She gasped expecting the worst. She knew coming here was a bad idea!

Cuddles, however, sat back on his knees, a bit dirty but that was all. "I'm okay, Fl…" He stopped that thought looking himself over with a sense of disbelief. There literally wasn't even a scratch or bruise on him. "I'm okay? I'm okay!"

Flaky just stared having roughly the same thoughts. Finally, she breathed out, "Unbelievable, with a fall like that, something should be broken in the least."

Cuddles got to his feet and checked all four of his limbs, even if there was a closed fracture, he was sure he would be able to feel it. Instead he just shook his head having just as much trouble believing this. "Nothing even hurts."

Flaky looked him up and down, finding the same oddities she did on herself with the exception of the lumps, the complete lack of injury making her feel the slightest bit more comfortable, comfortable enough to try standing up herself. Between the new body and her characteristic nerves, the process was slow and extremely shaky, her knees appearing as if they were to buckle at any moment.

Seeing this very clearly, Cuddles tried to help her but was surprised when she slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me! This is all your fault!"

Cuddles just stood there with his mouth hanging open as Flaky stood up all the way on her own, her arms drawn in around her chest and her toes pointed in towards each other. Finally, he found his voice as well as words. "Flaky, you can't possibly still see this as a bad thing…"

"I…"

Flaky wasn't really even able to start her thought before being caught off by a simple, "Wow!" They both turned to find Giggles had woken up and was looking over her new body in amazement before doing her namesake thing. "It's cute."

She looked around and noticed what Cuddles and Flaky had paid no attention to, it was a male with green hair and his back turned to the group. He was wearing what could only be described as rags, both pants and shirt, simple, thin, dirty, and full of holes. He didn't seem to have any distinguishing accessories that they could see. "Who's that?" Giggles asked either Cuddles or Flaky carefully, motioning to the man in rags.

They both followed her gaze and realized that they didn't have an answer to that question. They had pretty much accepted that the fifth guest must have been Toothy but this definitely wasn't Toothy. They wondered if it might be someone from this world but there were only five people in the area and the Idol had clearly said that all five spots were filled so it must be someone one from Happy Tree Town.

They had no guesses who though, "I don't know," they both answered together.

"Wait, how could you not know?" Giggles asked, looking over at both of them. "I thought you two had asked everyone that ended up going? How could someone have even found out without you asking him?" She knew she was at least safe going with the masculine pronoun since she could tell this definitely wasn't Petunia or Lammy.

"That's what we thought, too." Cuddles cut in. Looking the mystery man over, trying to run through his mind who in Happy Tree Town has green fur and found in horror that none of them were good news. All of them were crossed off the list when he and Flaky were back at his house and he wouldn't expect any of them to wind up dressed as this man was. "We don't know how he could have found out. We didn't invite him."

Curiosity overtaking her, Giggles got to her feet just as awkwardly as Cuddles had and puppeted her way over to the man. Luckily, she managed to get over to his other side without tripping over anything. As soon as she saw his face, she immediately gasped in horror and shock. "I-I know who it is…"

"Who?!" Flaky gasped, ready to take a run for the hills whether she could control her new body or not. The only thing that stopped her was that she had no idea where she could even run. She could run straight into any number of unknown dangers. However, the answer to her next question could easily drive her to go for it. "Does he have razor sharp teeth?!"

Giggles just shook her head. "No, it's not Fliqpy. I-it's… it's…" She was clearly having trouble getting the word out. Flashbacks of her and Petunia being overtaken, bound, and gagged by the twins for their lemonade stand profits running though her mind.

They were interrupted a third-time, this time by a string of growls and bad words. Cuddles was the only one to look over. Handy was rolling on the ground, trying to get up when both of his new arms still ended right at the elbows. He was dressed in construction wear consisting of heavy worker boots, pants the same material as Cuddles', and a white shirt with almost no sleeves at all, along with his usually hardhat and tool belt.

He struggled like this for a while before finally sighing and asking, "Can someone lend me a…" He stopped right before saying the word and looked down at his nubs as if just finally noticing them and growled again. "This whole new body and it **STILL** doesn't have any hands?!" He laid back down, just rolling around angrily and shouted at the top of his lungs. "There is no God!"

This pulled Flaky and Giggles' attention as well and Giggles puppeted over to him wanting to get away from the still unconscious man in rags more than anything. She'd much rather deal with the flailing amputee. "Come on, Handy, it's not the end of the world."

"That was the only reason I agreed to come on this trip! I thought that in the new world I would have hands again!" Handy shouted, still rolling around on the ground. "But no, it just had to tease me and still leave me without hands!"

Giggles frowned, trying to think of a way to calm him down. "I get that it would have been great for you to have hands but there are still great things to be happy about. We shouldn't die as much in this world and even better, Lumpy isn't here!" As much as Giggles hated the man in rags being there, she did have to admit that he was much preferable to the blue tyrant that was the reason **she** left.

"But I want hands!" Handy protested, throwing a world class temper tantrum. None of the three had any idea how to even go about trying to calm him down or even if it would be worth trying. None of them had expected Handy to react this dramatically.

All of this confusion and chaos caused by Handy's fit had provided Lifty with some much needed cover when he finally regained consciousness. He let out a near silent breath finding his freedom, his new body free of the injuries he sustained from his and Shifty's brawl though his stomach still demanded food. A pain he had grown quite used to.

However, he had bigger things to worry about as he looked towards the rest of the group, none of which had noticed that he was awake and he needed to try to keep it that way. He figured it couldn't be that hard after all these years as a career thief, he had gotten pretty good at getting from one place to another without being seen or heard.

However, what he didn't think to take into account, was that this new body was so much harder to control and he ended up falling right on his face. He wasn't injured from the fall just as Cuddles wasn't but the noise had caught everyone's attention, even Handy had stopped to look over as Lifty pushed himself over, facing them.

When he did, Cuddles, Flaky, and Handy noticed what Giggles had seen earlier, a black burglar type mask was covering his eyes and even though back in Happy Tree Town, the mask was actually part of his face, no one had trouble making the connection.

Though they all had their own bad experiences with the twins, Handy was the angriest. Those dirty rotten thieves had stolen both his car and his identity on the same day getting him arrested and leading to his number one worst death. "Who invited Shifty?" Handy asked Cuddles and Flaky accusingly.

Lifty's face only hardened at this. There was nothing he hated more than being mistaken for his twin. "It's Lifty, actually," he hissed out, through gritted teeth.

"Like it matters, you're both the same anyways." Handy cut in, the words sending a hard hit to Lifty. "You're both nothing more than a no-good thief with no regard for those around you! Only caring about your own selfish and greedy desires!"

"Yeah! Get out of here, you stupid bogart! No one wants you here!" Giggles cut in and though no one had any idea what she just called him or even if it was an actual word, the message was still crystal clear.

Lifty put his hands up in defense, trying to lighten the glares of hatred he was getting from all four, even Flaky, who was considerably the kindest Tree Friend in Happy Tree Town. "Can you guys please let me try to explain myself?" There was no verbal response but the continued glares gave him all the answer he needed. "Fine, then I'll just show myself out." Without waiting for a response, if any of them even planned on giving one, Lifty got to his feet and puppeted off to the north, this time not losing his footing as he disappeared from view.

Once he was sure Lifty was gone, Cuddles turned his attention to the rest of the group and stated what was pretty obvious at this point. "For the record, he was **NOT** invited."

Giggles and Handy laughed a bit at that; Flaky, however, stared off in the direction he disappeared in with a thoughtful look on her face and something else on her mind. She whispered a question under her breath that no one else caught, "Why was he dressed like that?"

* * *

In hindsight, Lifty should have seen this coming. He's made too many bad choices to be easily forgiven in any of their eyes. He wasn't thinking about that when he agreed to go on this trip. All he was thinking about was getting away from his own brother that he used to look up to so many years ago.

A tentative hand went to his throat, though the damage was entirely gone, Lifty could swear he still felt his brother's iron grip cutting off his air supply. There was nothing left to miss about the monster his brother had become. "It's all his fault," Lifty muttered though he knew that wasn't entirely true. It was still easier to blame everything on Shifty.

As he kept walking with literally no idea of where he was going or what was waiting for him when he got there, he became aware of a solid square in his back pocket. He was almost certain he knew what it was and pulling it out confirmed his suspicions, a wallet. He felt a twinge of hope as he opened the wallet but it instantly fell as he found a driver's license with his name and picture in his new body and nothing else, not even a single cent.

His stomach growled again as if he needed a reminder and he had no idea how he could go about filling it or finding somewhere to sleep but he did know how he wasn't going to do that. He would never turn back to crime. He made himself a promise right then and there that no matter how desperate he might get; he would not steal a single item or cent from anyone or anywhere.

With a worried sigh, Lifty returned the wallet to his pocket and continued walking, getting more sure on his feet as he went. It wasn't long until he seemed to reach a town. Except, the buildings all appeared to be shaped like boxes. Something about their basic geometric shapes seemed almost threatening to the ex-raccoon. "They looks so… sharp." He muttered to himself. In spite of that, he did note that there was no gore in sight and he couldn't hear any screams of terror or pain. A welcome contrast to the chaos left behind him.

Looking around, he was far from alone, various creatures with bodies very similar to his crossed in all directions, numbers easily passing the population of Happy Tree Town. He also noted that, besides the four he left back at the park, no one knew of him or his past crimes. He had a true clean slate and he wasn't about to waste it.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the park, Handy had, for the most part, calmed down and got to his feet. Now, all four of the remaining guests were trying to figure out what happens next. They were all in literally a whole new world that none of them knew anything about and Flaky was far from the only one doubting the apparent safety of this new world.

Despite, or perhaps because of this, the group remained silent for quite a while. Cuddles was predictably the first to speak up. "Well, I already know Flaky isn't going to want to hear this but we can't just stay here. I have no clue what we may find but I think it would be best for us to pick a direction and head in it. Maybe then we'll find some semblance of civilization."

He looked back to Flaky who said nothing but looked like she wanted to appearing even more afraid than she was before he made that comment. He added for her benefit as well as his own, "We should definitely all stay together though. There could be literally anything out there, stuff that we can't even imagine at the moment and we could use the strength in numbers."

Despite the fact that all of them had volunteered to go on this trip to this new world for their own separate reasons, it was obvious that none of them were too eager to dive into entirely new territory feet first. However, none of them saw any better option at this point.

Cuddles swallowed a lump in his throat, having his own doubts about this excursion. The only thing that pressed him on was a small mental reminder of a thought he had when the offer was made, _'Worst case scenario, it's exactly the same because it simply cannot be worse.'_ If he could _survive_ all those years in Happy Tree Town, surely he could handle whatever this world has to throw at him. They all can.

In fact, that small episode with Flaky had proven that this world isn't exactly like Happy Tree Town in that sense. In hind sight, Lifty didn't appear injured when he fell either. These new bodies appear to be more durable than their old ones. That alone provided quite a bit of comfort. "So, then," he looked around him realizing that there was really nothing to set one direction out from another. "How about we head this way?" He supplied, pointing to the west.

There were no obvious objections but once he started to head off in that direction, he found that there were only two people following him. Looking back, he found that Flaky hasn't even budged from her spot in the middle of the park.

With a look of worry painted on his face, Cuddles made his way over to her. "Flaky, I understand that you're scared…" he trailed off trying to find a way to calm her down enough to stay within the relative safety of the group. Unfortunately failing on how to calm her down, he tries a different technic. "but if you don't come with me, who's going to be my voice of reason when something looks really fun?"

That had caught Flaky's attention as she remembered the only reason she came on this death trip in the first place: so that she could be there to at least try to protect Cuddles from himself and as much as she hated the idea, she had to follow him to stand even a chance of doing that. "Alright, I'm coming," Flaky finally agreed and followed the group.

After a bit of walking, they came across some large boxes that were much smaller than the ones Lifty came across, not that they knew that. "How weird…" Cuddles pondered, looking them over. They appeared to be buildings, they had window and doors like buildings but the overall shape was so unusual. Looking back the group, he found that all three of them simply seemed to be waiting for some kind of instruction.

' _What? Am I supposed to be the leader?'_ He wondered to himself, but as soon as he thought it, he realized how much sense that did make. After all, he was the first one to agree to this trip, he was the one who invited all three of them. Not to mention that he was supposed to be the brave one, even compared to Giggles and Handy instead of just Flaky. Who else would be the leader?

Cuddles gulped again and wiped his hands on his pants trying to come up with any kind of plan when his hand caught a lump. _'Hey, what's this?'_ He reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a leather wallet containing a driver's license and what appeared to be some kind of money. "Everyone, check your pockets," he instructed, hoping he was right.

Finding none in their skin but some in their clothes, everyone did, Giggles being surprised to find one on the side of the cloth around her waist. Everyone found more or less the same thing, the only real difference they noticed being that Giggles seemed to have some basic id card instead. Not that she expected to find a driver's license when she didn't have or want one in Happy Tree Town either.

"Well alright then, if this actually is money then things just got easier," Cuddles concluded, returning his own wallet back to his pocket having to admit that the four of them are basically on their owns to figure everything out. "In this case, we need to figure out how much money this is, assuming it is at all, then find the basic necessities: food, water, and shelter. Even if there is money left over after covering these, we shouldn't even look at anything beyond those until we find a way to get more money once this runs out. Everyone understand?"

Even though none of them were used to having to get by with such basics, they knew that no matter how much this money might or might not be, it was bound to run out and no one had any clue how to go about getting more.

Back in Happy Tree Town, every job was ascribed to a different Tree Friend for the day and they received a small payment each day for the work done. No one but Lumpy had any say in who did what and what was received. From what they can already see, they doubted it worked that way and actually hoped it didn't.

In spite of herself, Flaky had to admit that she was impressed. Everything he was saying was so rational and forward thinking that she didn't have a single objection. It was almost as if she was looking at an entirely different person. A rouge though suddenly enters her head. _'Maybe I am… he could just be a trick from the Idol.'_ Flaky tried to shake that paranoid thought from her brain but she never was good at that.

"And above all, trust me, I cannot stress this enough, no matter what happens, we need to stay together," Cuddles repeated in a deadpan tone that left no room for argument. "There's no way the Cursed Idol's intentions were pure."

"The what?!" Giggles suddenly gasped, making Cuddles suddenly remember that she never had any idea of where the offer had come from. "Cuddles, you can't possibly mean to tell me that little death bringing statue has anything to do with this?!"


	4. Give Me The News

**Greetings and salutions, Readers. I'm sorry this chapter took so long but it was finals week so I was super swamped and had to put this on the back burner. Now, while I normally don't like OCs in HTF fanfictions, the nature of this fic makes that pretty much inevitable. In this chapter in particular, we will meet a few characters that will play important roles later in the story. Also, from this chapter forward, we will be jumping to different points of view a lot so we will still get to experience Happy Tree Town some as well.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends or any of the characters but Catherine, Jake, Aiden, and the mystery journaler.**

Cuddles and Flaky were silent at first as Giggles fumed at having this information so blatantly left out. Flaky looked down at her feet but Cuddles somehow managed to hold her gaze but had no words as he tried to figure a way out of something that wasn't even his fault. Flaky was the one who told her about the trip and he hadn't had the chance to add what she left out but he's being blamed for it for the second time now and he wouldn't even consider throwing Flaky under the bus. Giggles folded her arms, "Well, Cuddles, I'm waiting. Did the Cursed Idol have anything to do with this trip?"

Finding no other option, even though he knew what was going to come, he answered with the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. "The Cursed Idol had everything to do with this trip. It's the one who made the offer."

Apparently, the skin of their new bodies can change color as he learned from watching Giggles face after she heard that. "And you didn't think that was important to mention?!" Giggles shouted with abandon. "I would have never agreed if I knew that. Heck, if I could, I'd go back now even homeless and blacklisted because this is SO OBVIOUSLY A TRAP!"

Cuddles glanced over at Flaky who had coiled back into the fetal position clearly not liking all this shouting and accusing and honestly wished he could do the same but he couldn't because that only cemented in the fact that he was alone on this... and he had no good excuse. Looking around he noticed that all of her shouting had attracted the attention of a few people native to this world, especially since they were still speaking... well, Gibberish.

The only uninvolved Tree Friend suddenly spoke up with a surprised, "Wait, you seriously never told her that?"

Cuddles ignored Handy's question turning back to Giggles and saying the only thing he could think of to pacify her. "Look, Giggles, I fucked up big time, I get that. I really should have told you exactly where the offer was coming from but it's too late now and getting mad at me for it now isn't going to get us anywhere." He had to admit that was at least partially true. Not as much as if he was the one who explained it to her but he knows that making Flaky explain the trip that she always opposed was a terrible idea.

There were a few minutes of terrifying silence as the gears in Giggles' head turned. Cuddles hoped for the best but was mentally preparing her for the worst. There was little saying what Giggles might say next. Finally, her eyes shifted, instead glaring at a generic spot on the ground. "I should have known the idea was far too good to be true. Stupid," she chastised herself so quietly that the others just barely caught it.

"Getting mad at yourself for it now isn't going to get us anywhere either." Cuddles reminded, hoping that he wasn't digging an even deeper hole. "I know this happened only..." Cuddles trailed off, finally realizing how little time had actually passed considering how much had happened since he found the Idol in the sandbox. "I know this only happened yesterday but there's nothing either of us could do about it now."

Giggles sighed, how true that is actually settling into her brain. "Fine, you're right but this conversation is not over."

"I understand," Cuddles said, glad that the argument was done for now and Flaky even slowly got back to her feet. "For now, let's find out where we're going to sleep tonight, assuming anything here's the same, we'll make it longer without food than without shelter." No one had any objections so they set off.

Though she hadn't said anything, Flaky could almost feel the tension in Giggles' silence and it made her shift uncomfortably, especially as she realized that she was the one had left out that information. She knew she should have stood up for him, taken responsibility for her own mistake but she was afraid. She didn't want Giggles to yell at her instead. _'Coward,'_ her thoughts chastised, making her tense up even more. _'What kind of friend are you?'_ She tried to convince herself that it wasn't true but she knew it was. "I'm sorry, Cuddles," she mumbled in shame.

"What was that, Flaky?" Cuddles asked, looking back at her.

"Nothing."

"What the fuck?" cursed a voice from a literal world away, one of his eyes focused on the screen in front of him even though the other eye refused to follow its direction. Both of them narrowed as he rewinded the tape for the umpteenth time watching the Tree Friend literally disappear. He considered the chance of disintegration but there was no obvious cause. That and this had happened with two other Tree Friends at the same exact time.

He rested on his fist trying to make any sense of this phenomenon. Strange was common place in Happy Tree Town and because of that, there are few things that will truly stand out but this was one.

"It doesn't even look painful," he observed, playing the clip one more time. "Very unlike Happy Tree Town." He turned off the video realizing that he wasn't going to find his answer in this clip. "Giggles was one of the three," he realized, starting to feel like so many people see him.

Lumpy frowned, remembering what happened yesterday vividly. The way she just quit so suddenly and without hesitation on the consequences, she had to have a plan.

Spinning around in his chair, Lumpy begun to thumb through his tapes for the correct one. He needed to figure out what exactly happened right before and after that event. "Mmm Hmm..." he declared procuring the correct tape with a flourish and replacing the previous tape with it. It took a bit of fumbling with the feed but soon he got it to when Giggles left the hospital that day and turned up the speakers to make sure he doesn't miss anything that's being said.

Cuddles and Flaky had met her there which wasn't a surprise and not just because Cuddles is always stalking her but he remembers seeing them. They didn't say anything while he was out but they were in the background. It started off normal with basic small talk and some of Giggles complaining about the job but it wasn't enough for her to take the risk of quitting and certainly didn't explain her disappearance.

Then it happened, "Cuddles and I... found a way that can actually take us away from this world and transport us to a whole new one, separate from here, and we can bring a few other friends with us." He had to replay that line more than a few times to simply make sure he heard that right. Cuddles and Flaky were not part of the three he saw disappear but he supposed that must mean they were inside their own or someone else's house, the only places in town he didn't have cameras monitoring.

 _'If that's to be believed, then Cuddles, Flaky, Giggles, Handy, and either Lifty or Shifty are in a different world now, and it was premeditated but how?'_ Lumpy mused, this realization only bringing up many more questions.

Lumpy fast-forwarded through the part he was actually there for, hoping that what came after would provide him some answers but it didn't give him anything but that there were two spots left at that point. Given the disappearances, he could assume those must have been Handy and Lifty or Shifty but he couldn't even know that for sure because there could still be more that were asked before her.

 _'Well, I could wait and see tomorrow and see who's still missing,'_ Lumpy concluded, even though he knew that wouldn't give him any information on how, just who. He groaned, realizing something else. _'And I'm going to have to rearrange everyone's schedules again.'_

Turning off the video, he pulled his scheduling papers out of a filing cabinet. He already wrote Giggles out of the schedule this morning and Lifty and Shifty haven't been on the schedule for years but now he had to rearrange it to exclude Cuddles, Flaky, and Handy. Don't get him wrong, he loves running the town but this job was always annoying.

* * *

While the tyrant tried to figure the jobs out, an ex-thief was having a similar problem in the new world. After a while, he stopped just wondering and sat down on a public bench he chanced upon to gather his thoughts. At least, he hoped it was a public bench. No one seemed to complain about him sitting there at least. Besides, he really just needed some time to collect his thoughts. He noticed there was a branch looming over his head and uncomfortably moved to the other side of the bench to hopefully be out of the branch's way.

Not long after he settled down on the bench, he caught wind of a passing conversation and if his ears were still the way they used to be, they would have perked right up. It wasn't so much about what was being said but the fact that he actually knew what was being said at all. He tried to focus on some other conversations finding that he could still pick up on them easily and almost all of them were speaking English.

It was no Gibberish and his was a bit rusty but he can speak and understand it, everyone in Happy Tree Town can to varying degrees. Lumpy was the best at it and Nutty's the worst. Then again, Nutty rarely spoke clear Gibberish anyways. Lifty shook his head wondering why he's thinking about animals he will never see again.

 _'Focus, Lifty,'_ he reminded, trying to think of anything that will help him here. Anything he's good at besides stealing. He can't really know what he might or might not still be good at in this new world with this new body but the chances are higher with something that he was good at back in Happy Tree Town. So, what would those be?

He was very strong. He and Shifty were the second strongest and the first doesn't count.

He was very fast, too, and maybe he can be again once he gets used to these limbs.

But he couldn't think of any specific jobs to tie those into.

And he knew when he was completely honest with himself that he was not good at working as a team. In fact, that was the main reason so many of their heists failed is that neither of them had this skill. The closest they got to pulling off a major heist in recent day was also the day they worked together the best.

In fact, thinking back to that particular heist, Lifty realized something that he might be able to use. That elephant had presented a real challenge for them but he figured it out and not only that but he and Shifty, mostly him, were able to completely break down their van and rebuild it in full working order.

He could pretty much guarantee that cars in this world would be very different but he should at least be able to figure it out.

At least he hoped he would.

He hopped off the bench with a new sense of purpose and was walking again hoping to find something he could work with. Also glad to be out of range of that deadly looking branch.

* * *

Back with the rest of the group, as they looked for a place to sleep that night, Cuddles noticed that Flaky was almost _more_ jumpy then she was back in Happy Tree Town, something he hadn't thought possible. Any noise or movement, even the relatively familiar would set her off.

Did he blame her? No. Even though it seemed better so far, this vastly unfamiliar world had him on edge as well and he found his own mind conjuring up disasters such as a paper he can see blowing across the sidewalk ending up plastered across the windshield of a passing car which would, in turn, crash into that building across from them which would then collapse into what he thinks might be a power-line which would light the whole street on fire.

Cuddles tried to shake that thought out of his head reminding himself that this isn't Happy Tree Town.

Did he feel guilty for bringing her here? A bit. Would he have felt guiltier if he left her behind? Absolutely.

Cuddles stopped walking and motioned for the rest to do the same as he spotted a small, square building with pictures of burgers on the windows. "I think this is some kind of fast food place. I know we're supposed to be looking for shelter but we can take a look to get an idea of how far the currency goes."

"But the place might light on fire!" Flaky gasped, staring wide-eyed at the building before them.

"I'm with Flaky on this one," Giggles cut in. "If it's a fast food place, there will be grill, friers, there's too many variables."

"You think I'm not already thinking about that?" Cuddles mumbled to himself but swallowed his own fear looking at Handy who wasn't exactly jumping on the idea either. He didn't blame them already hating his own idea but he knew it was the best chance to get the information and they won't make it far at all without it. "Fine then, you guys stay here and I'll go in alone."

He turned and started head for what he hoped was a door when Flaky suddenly spook up, "You said we were supposed to stay together. That we'd be safer as a group."

Cuddles turned and found that she was making her way over, still pigeon-toed but she looked surer than she did a few seconds ago. He tried to offer her a reassuring smile. "Well, the three of you stay together and you should be okay for now."

"What about you though?" He didn't have an answer for that. Flaky just shook her head and put a hand on his shoulder. "I came on this trip to protect you. If you're going in there, I'm going with you."

"You don't need to, Flaky. I know you're scared."

"I can see your hands shaking, I know you're scared, too." Cuddles looked down at his own hands and realized she was right. "Besides, I want to."

Cuddles did smile genuinely, pushing open the door. "Thank you. That really does mean a lot."

They both headed in, unacknowledged by the natives of this world. Besides the inhabitants, the place didn't seem all that different from the burger joint in Happy Tree Town.

Well, except for what they came here to check. "What? That can't be right." Cuddles stated, as he stared dumbfounded at the prices displayed.

Flaky looked at the prices and gasped as well. "Four whole dollars? This money we have won't go nearly as far as we thought."

"That it won't," Cuddles said, disappointment evident in his voice. "I guess we'll have to go break the news to the others."

Flaky nodded, just wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

Once they were out the door though, Cuddles caught a familiar noise. It was harder to catch with these tiny ears, compared to what he was used to at least. But still, he'd still recognize that noise anywhere., "Wait, is that?"

Sure enough, one of the natives of this new world arrived on skateboard, getting off in front of the joint. Cuddles noticed that the native wasn't wearing a helmet and though he never bothered with one back in Happy Tree Town, he wondered if they were even needed here. The native frowned and tried to push his way through. "Get out of my way. What's wrong with you two?" Despite what he said, they were both somewhat relieved that he was speaking English.

Cuddles and Flaky got out of his way and as he left, Cuddles noticed that he had lumps on his chest just like Flaky and Giggles both have. He long yellowish hair was tied back in a knot and he wondered if that was intentional or not. "Wait!"

He stopped, turning back to the pair. "What?" Cuddles had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to say but he had to toss it around in his head to try to make sure he had the right English words and didn't look like an idiot. Unfortunately, it was too late for that… "Are you going to say something or are you just going to stand there like a weirdo?"

Cuddles shook his head to clear it out and went for the best English he could manage. "Sorry, I just noticed that you skate, I do, too."

The native looked Cuddles over with scrutiny it seems before stopping with his eyes on Cuddles' feet. "I can't take this seriously in those slippers."

Cuddles looked down at his feet having not expected that kind of reaction. He loved his bunny slippers; he never took them off back in Tree Town

Before he had the chance to say anything else, the front door opened revealing another native with much shorter black hair and no lumps. "Catherine, come on. You going?"

"Catherine" took one more look at Cuddles without a word before turning to the native in the doorway. "I'm coming Jake!" he called before coming in side,

"Catherine?" Cuddles repeated to himself. "Jake? Are those supposed to be their names?"

"It seems to be," Flaky answered in Gibberish. "They sure are weird though,"

"Very," Cuddles agreed before turning back. "Let's just head back to the rest of the group. I'll tell them what we learned."

Flaky only nodded as they headed back to where Giggles and Handy were waiting. "Well guys, we have some good news and some bad news," Cuddles said as they reached them. "The good news is that the natives here seem to be speaking English."

"Well, that's good Giggles agreed, though it was obvious that she was still uncomfortable with being here. "Gibberish would be better but English is better than anything else."

"And what's the bad news?" Handy asked, trying to cross his arms as close as he can get.

"The bad news is that four dollars will get you a cheeseburger. This money we have won't last nearly as long as we were thinking."

"Four whole dollars?!" Giggles gasped. "I figured the value would be different but not by that much."

"We know; we both had the same reaction when we first saw the prices but that's definitely what it said." Cuddles explained a bit solemnly, with his head hung down.

"So what do we do now then?" Flaky asked figuring… hoping that he must have an answer.

Cuddles had to think about that for a bit but was able to give an answer. "We counts up the money that we do have exactly and continue to look for somewhere to set down for the night. It's all that we can do."

That was meet with no resistance as each of them took out their wallets and started counting the money inside them.

* * *

While they counted the money, they were unaware that the fifth ex-tree friend still didn't have a single cent to count.

All was not lost for Lifty though as he came across what seemed to be some kind of auto shop, a sign on the door said 'Help Wanted' which Lifty found a bit odd but he hoped it meant what it sounded like.

He pushed open the door and headed in hoping he isn't going to look ridiculous. Looking around, there were various car parts and other supplies that he found himself recognizing most of them as close enough.

It definitely seemed to be the best he could get.

Not sure what else to do, Lifty made his way to a counter at the front where a native with short brown hair seemed to be working.

He had to remind himself to speak English instead of Gibberish. "Um… how can I get a job here?" he asked, catching the worker's attention. For a second, Lifty wondered if he accidentally said that in Gibberish.

However, he must have said it in English because the native pulled out a paper already pretty full of ink. "Fill out these," he said, handing Lifty the papers. "Name's Aiden, by the way."

'What I weird name?' Lifty thought, taking the paper and looking it over. 'And what a weird process.' "Um… thanks, Aiden. I'm Lifty."

Aiden laughed a bit at that for reasons Lifty could not figure out. "Lifty, huh? That's a pretty cool nickname."

Lifty did not respond, not sure what the 'nick' was supposed to mean but he hoped it was something good. "Are you going to fill this out here?" Aiden asked, snapping Lifty's attention back.

"Um… yes."

"Then go ahead and take this," Aiden said, handing him a clipboard, something Lifty has seen but not used. It seemed pretty self-explanatory though so Lifty stuck the paper in and took a pen to fill it out with.

Lifty took his board and sat down on a bench on the side of the shop, looking over what was written, a good majority of it made no sense. Why does it ask for two names? What's a cell phone? Will they try to find his high school if he he listed it? Maybe leave that blank… Has he ever been convicted of a felony? Well… Not in this world.

He filled it out to the best of his abilities which did leave a lot of blank lines. "Well, I guess that's the best it's going to get." Lifty sight and returned the paper and clipboard to Aiden and Lifty hoped that look meant something else in this world.

"Alright, well, as the second part of the hiring process." There's more? "I'm going to give you some questions, make sure that you know your stuff." Aiden took the paper off the clipboard and replaced it with a few different papers, "All of them are multiple choice and should take about ten minutes if you have the time."

Finally, something related that he can actually stick out in a good way that might offset the blanks on the first paper.

Lifty took a seat back on the bench, finding it much easier for him to answer these questions than the last one.

* * *

After finishing a shift at the toy store, glad that Lumpy wasn't working there, Toothy was sitting on a swing in the playground feeling lonely. He was sure now that they had already left to this new world and he's still not sure it was the best for him to stay in this world, not that it matters much anymore.

He went back and forth on the swing with a lack of speed or joy. Sure, he had other friends but he wasn't sure what to do without Cuddles.

That's when he had the most fun was with the energetic rabbit. It often led to his death but that wasn't what mattered to him… the fun helped subset the pain. Toothy sighed and got off the swing. He really missed Cuddles, Flaky, Giggles and even Handy already. He wants to believe they're in a better, safer place now that they're gone but the cursed statue had to be up to no good and he was scared for them.

While he was lost in his thoughts, he finally caught a feminine voice calling after him and turned to see Petunia coming after carefully. "Have you seen Giggles or Handy? I haven't been able to find either of them or their bodies, not even any limbs.

Toothy hesitated on telling her the truth, it's not his own thing to tell but it's also important for her to know that her best friend and boyfriend are never coming back and she can't go now. "They're gone, Petunia."

"Gone?" Petunia shrugged not understanding what he meant by that. "Alright, then I guess I'll just wait and see them tomorrow."

"Actually, no it's not like that; they're never coming back, Cuddles or Flaky either they said the Cursed Idol offered them a way to leave this world entirely and go to a new one."

Petunia was obviously skeptical about that being the truth. "The Cursed Idol? You mean the one that I accidently used as a doll once?"

"That's the one, they tried to get me on the trip with them but I never did make up my mind on whether or not I wanted to go. The idea of leaving this world and not having to die every day was just too good to be true and the Cursed Idol's involvement only proved this."

"I know what you mean. Plus, the other world could have even more filth. That's just hard for me to wrap my head around. They're really gone forever?"

"That seems most likely right now, there's probably a fifth but I don't know who that is."

"I just, I wouldn't want to go there but I wish she would have told me before she left. Same thing with Handy." Petunia stated sadly, looking down at her feet. "You said Flaky, too?"

Toothy just nodded. "She and Cuddles were the ones who talked to me about it. I do not know why she would go."

"I don't either," Petunia said, trying to think over her other friend with her personality. "So, that means that me and that pickle girl are now the only girls in town?"

"That is right," Toothy realized having not really thought about who very few girls are in town and that the number was halved by a five friend trip. "Maybe not even that, Lammy might have been the fifth to leave."

"And even if she is still here, she doesn't even speak Gibberish or English, only Crazy Talk. Doesn't understand it either. Plus, being with her is fun but even more dangerous than normal."

"Well, I haven't actually met here but from what I've heard about her, I don't want to; I wouldn't mind if she was the fifth because it would get rid of her and that crazy pickle she has…"

There were a few seconds of silence as they both tried to figure out what can even be done to lessen the grievance of their friends and boyfriend. Toothy was the first to speak up. "I want to believe they're in a better place, it's hard to imagine a worse place. Still, I don't know who to spend time with."

"Well, I just got off my shift and the diner so you can hang out with me, I don't really have anyone to spend time with either, really." Petunia offered, they weren't the best of friends but they certainly got along when they did play together.

Toothy did smile at that and nodded. "Sure! I would love to spend time with you. What would you like to do?"

* * *

After a while of counting, Cuddles, Flaky, Giggles, and Handy came to about two-thousand dollars altogether and no one was sure if that was a good amount or not. So, that's about five-hundred cheeseburgers…

"So… hopefully this will be enough for an apartment or something," Cuddles said, trying to seem optimistic about the money they have.

"It's so weird, with two-thousand dollars back in Tree Town, we would be rich," Giggles stated, it almost seeming surreal and Cuddles was at least glad that she didn't seem pissed at her anymore.

Cuddles nodded in agreement. "Yeah, and it doesn't seem to be the case here. So, for now, we check out apartments and try to find an occupation for at least one of us."

"I could be the one to try to get a job," Giggles volunteered which came as a bit of a surprise but was meet with no protest.

"Well, if you're sure about that, Giggles but wasn't your reason for leaving Tree Town because you were being worked to the bone?"

"Well, yes it was but it just seems like it would be better here than under Lumpy and that's good enough for me." While what she said was true, she did have another reason for volunteering that she does not want to share and I will not share it with you guys either.

As they went on going, it became obvious that they were all calming down some on the issues they each had earlier but it was still far from where they need to be.

"Cuddles," Flaky suddenly called as she kept walking but she really needed to say it to him right then. "I'm sorry, Cuddles, for letting you get yelled at for my mistake… twice."

"I put up with it because I wanted to," Flaky couldn't even begin to understand what that was supposed to mean so he explained. "I mean I knew I could handle it much easier than you could. I didn't want you to get hurt."

It almost felt like something she should have been ashamed of but she didn't actually feel anything actually because she knew it was true and she would have been terrified if Giggles' wrath was on her instead. "Well, thank you for taking that for me."

Cuddles just shrugged as if it was okay even though that wasn't entirely true. "There's no need to thank me. It's what friends are for."

By saying that, Cuddles unknowingly sent a metaphorical punch to Flaky's gut. If that's what friends are for… well, she never does that for him.

* * *

"And the fuel compressor attaches to the auxiliary generator ***** …" Lifty mumbled to himself as he answered the final question on the test. Overall, he felt pretty good with his results.

After looking through the answers, Lifty brought the papers back to Aiden. Aiden took a look at the first piece and couldn't help but ask, "There isn't any phone number or address listed, you don't have to answer, but, well, are you homeless?"

' _Homeless, home-less… without home?'_ Lifty pondered over the unfamiliar word before answering, "Yes I am."

It was obvious to even someone who isn't used to reading human facial expressions that Aiden was having trouble figuring out what to do about that. "Alright, how about instead of us reaching to you, I could get your papers looked through and you could come back tomorrow afternoon and I'll let you know either way."

Aiden put the papers away and pulled out a five-dollar bill. "I'm technically not supposed to do this. It's not much but it will get you something to eat until then."

Lifty was hesitant to take the money at first, sensing a trap that was not there. He obviously took money in all the time in Tree Town but no one had ever voluntarily gave it to him. "You're sure I can have this?" Lifty asked carefully.

"I'm sure of it. You clearly need the money and you seem like a nice guy."

After a few more seconds of hesitation, a rumble from Lifty's stomach told him to take the money. After all, it wasn't stealing, was it? It was just accepting a gift. "Thank you, Aiden," Lifty said, putting the money in his now less barren wallet.

"You're welcome. So, your name actually is Lifty?" Aiden asked, a bit surprised to see that name on the application.

"Yes, I came from a small town where names like that are actually very common," Lifty explained which wasn't actually a lie at all, just omitting some information that would be too hard to explain and/or be believed about. "I've only been here a day."

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you wind up here without a penny to your name?" Aiden asked, starting to get worried for him.

"Well, I didn't have anything to start off with but I had to get away from home and away from my abusive and greedy brother," Lifty explained without having to make up a single word.

"Oh, I'm sorry you had to go through that but at least you got away from your brother and even though you're homeless, by the looks of this test, you will have a job and that will change with time," Aiden explained, hoping to be of some help. "And until then, you can go to a Homeless Shelter, it would have food and blankets there."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Lifty asked, wondering about this 'homeless shelter', there was no equivalent in Tree Town but, again the name was pretty self-explanatory and certainly sounded better than sleeping in the streets.

"I just wanted to help you out," Aiden answered with a shrug. "You seem like a great guy and it would be a shame to see you out on the street, starving." Lifty wondered if he would think the same thing if he knew he used to be a thief and not a petty thief at that.

* * *

"So, who were those guys you were talking to outside?" Jake asked taking a bite of his cheeseburger.

Catherine could only shrug and dipped a fry in ketchup. "I've never seen them before, they stopped to talk to me. Pretty odd pair."

"Well, what do you think of them? Are they cool?"

"I'm on the fence about that, actually. The guy claims to be a skater which is good if true but he was wearing pink bunny slippers and both of them seemed scared, especially the girl. I'd keep an eye on them and see what happens."

"Scared?" Jake asked, quite surprised to hear that. Even if they are new, there isn't really anything worth fearing.

Catherine nodded, finishing the rest of her burger. "Looks like they could use a good dose of YOLO."

"Not just that but with those pink bunny slippers he was wearing, I just can't take him seriously in those things." Catherine actually laughed a bit remembering that. "I'm not sure how he expects me to take him seriously as a skater in those."

"That is very odd and should really change but I still think we should keep an eye on him," Jake explained. "If we can get him to see things the right way, then he might be of use to us."

* * *

Aiden just got off his shift in the auto repair shop and was heading home unable to stop thinking about the homeless man, Lifty, who come looking for a job.

If it were up to him, Lifty would have been hired there and then. He really needed the money, seemed like a nice guy, and passed the test on the application with flying colors.

Unfortunately, it wasn't up to him so he could only hope that his boss was having the same thoughts about Lifty, at least enough to hire him for the job.

He felt a bit guilty when he stepped into his house and was met with his family. He knew he shouldn't feel guilty for it but he couldn't help but think about how much more he has than Lifty.

Even as his wife and kids greeted him and gave him hugs and a kiss from his wife, it felt like he was doing something wrong.

* * *

April 28, 2016

Dear Journal,

There was some really weird stuff going on today. I went to the park on my daily walk and found five unconscious people in the park.

I was tempted to call 911, they could have needed help. I didn't though. In fact, I ran as soon as they started to stir. Is that cowardly? Well, I don't know these people are, they could have been dangerous.

I tried to convince myself that the sight was not real but that wasn't the last that I saw of them. I came across them a while later but they were all conscious and seemed to be arguing in some language that I couldn't even tag to a certain language.

Call me a conspiracy theorist but I don't think they come from this would at all. I have yet to decide if they come in piece or destruction but I will keep you posted if I find out anything more.

 ***This came from Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Across the Second Dimention in Fabulous 2D (Gosh that's a long title!) I know nothing about cars or if those are actaul things.**

 **So, this was the first chapter of this story that I wrote all on my own so I hope you all enjoyed it and it was worth the wait (again, sorry). So, every character we touched on in this chapter will play an important role in this story, including that cryptic journeler, we'll actually hear from this person that way quite a few times before actually meeting him/her. Anyways, please review and constructive critisism is greatly appreciated.**


	5. With All Your Night

**Hello readers! Quite the speedy update compared to the last. I hope this is up to standard.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Happy Tree Friends, Mondo does.**

After a while of searching, the four came across an apartment they could reasonably afford. It would be one bedroom but they could all manage with each other. They didn't really have any better options.

Just like everything else, they had no idea what to expect as they took the keys to their apartment and headed to the indicated one, on the first floor as they requested.

They found that there was no furniture except for some advanced looking appliances that they could barely pair with an equivalent. Some of which were completely foreign to them. "Well, I guess this is what we'll have to deal with until we have enough money for furniture."

Cuddles motioned to the dark landscape outside the window. "For now, we should all get some sleep, I think this is the bedroom over here," He directed to a room they found empty but carpeted.

Soon enough, everyone was settled on the ground for sleep, Giggles and Handy slept on their backs, Flaky slept on her stomach (probably a left over habit from when she had quills), but Cuddles didn't sleep at all. Instead, he just stared at the ceiling that he can't even see.

He wouldn't admit it to anyone but he was afraid. After a few seconds of terrified starring, Cuddles got up to his feet and went over to the door. In the morning, he could pretend that this is for Flaky as he turned on the hall light and left the door open just a crack so as not to wake anyone up.

Unfortunately, due to her paranoia, Flaky was a very light sleeper so when he came over, Flaky was already sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "Cuddles? Why did you turn the light on?"

"Well, I know you're afraid of the dark. So, I was just looking out for you."

"I'm not afraid of the dark, Cuddles. I don't know where you got that idea from but I'm not and never was."

"Oh well… Cuddles started tapping his fingers together hoping that Flaky couldn't see it. "We never know; it might be effecting your sleep."

"I was sleeping just fine and it's hard to sleep with that dang light on." And there went his last leg to stand on.

"Well, I am," Cuddles whispered, still tapping his fingers together. He wondered where he got that habit.

Flaky caught what he said but couldn't make any sense of the words. "You are what?"

Cuddles hung his head, a bit weird to not have his ears flop into his face when he did that. "I'm afraid of the dark," he admitted, just barely loud enough for Flaky to catch it. *****

"You are?" Flaky stopped everything for a few seconds. She hadn't expected her daredevil best friend to have a phobia of any kind. "I didn't know that."

After she said that, she remembered that Halloween with the Haunted House ride with Giggles and Sniffles. Cuddles was with them at the carnival but immediately backed out when the ride was brought up and gave no explanation.

"I'm sorry I didn't know that," Flaky said looking down at her feet in shame.

"I didn't want you to know," Cuddles admitted without a hint of joke in his voice or stature. In fact, Flaky had never seen him seem so serious. "I didn't want anyone to know. I'm supposed to be the brave one."

It was obvious that Flaky was having trouble knowing what to say but finally agreed, "You have a phobia. I get that. Just leave the light on and I'll try to ignore in and take the blow tomorrow morning."

They both settled back down on the floor and before they fell asleep, Flaky whispered to Cuddles, "Thank you for being honest with me."

* * *

Lifty, however, had used two of the five dollars he was given to get a small roll to offset the pain in his stomach but he couldn't find this elusive 'homeless shelter' anywhere.

For the night and likely many more in the future, he was stuck sleeping on a park bench. It was uncomfortable but still better than back 'home' with Shifty. He was lucky it wasn't raining or too cold. He's lived on the streets before but that was with a thick layer of fur covering his whole body and now that was gone.

He pushed those thoughts away, getting into a more comfortable position and reminded himself that this was still much preferable to his previous set up with his greedy, hypocritical bother.

His hand tentatively went to his neck, remembering the feeling of his brother's paws around it and let out a single tear even though his expression hardened. "Fuck you, Shifty," he grumbled before going to sleep.

* * *

First thing in the morning, back in Tree Town, Shifty woke up fuming in the park. Sure, he couldn't deny that he had been a terrible brother but to go to a supposedly safe world and leave him to suffer? That was a whole new low.

In hindsight, trying to strangle his brother was a bit of an overreaction but he was desperate and if he succeeded, Lifty would have been back, alive, and in Tree Town. Now he's gone forever.

Shifty laid there glaring at the sky until his stomach begged food, and unlike Lifty, he only had one way to satisfy it. So, he got to his feet, wondering what he could pull off alone.

* * *

By contrast, when Disco Bear resurrected, he was more confused than angry. He racked his brain for how he died and remembered that one of his disco balls fell on him but that was far from his most pressing question at the time.

The real question is what is he still doing in Tree Town. He remembered agreeing to go to the other world right before he died so he should be there instead of here… right?

Naturally, he assumed that they must not have gone yet and they will go later. Unaware that his spot was stolen by someone who wasn't even invited, he just laid there and waited for a while.

After a while of obviously nothing happening, he went and set out for someone to flirt with, preferably Giggles.

* * *

Speaking of Giggles, she was the first to wake up of the group and was surprised to find the light in the hallway on. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," she chided, going over and turning off the light so it was no longer wasting energy.

She looked over at the group, the light being off not being an issue because of the light coming in from the window. She was racking her brain, trying to figure out what the catch to this trip is.

So far, the only drawback seems to be the shortage of money for now but that's so temporary and definitely not the reason the Cursed Idol sent them to this world.

Now there's no turning back and trying to figure out the catch is only turning her into Flaky. She just couldn't relax with the idea though. She'd almost prefer the reason be obvious.

She went over to the window and peered out, finding it so peaceful and carefree. _'Why is it so hard to figure out what's wrong?!'_ her thought screamed in frustration.

"Are you okay, Giggles?" Flaky's voice suddenly asked in Gibberish from behind her. Giggles turned around seeing her sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Giggles hesitated to tell Flaky the truth, though she decided that Flaky would understand better than anyone else. "No, I'm scared."

Flaky hesitated not being used to being on this side of things. "Umm… let's take this to a different room," Flaky suggested, awkward as ever but she did listen and they went to the hallway outside the room. "First of all, let's get this out there that I understand that you're scared, I am, too."

"Yeah but you're afraid of everything."

Even though it was mostly true, Flaky didn't take that well. "Hey, I'm trying to help you, the least you could do is not insult me."

"Right, sorry," Giggles apologized, looking down at her feet. "So, what do I do then?"

Giggles' hope of getting any kind of answer from Flaky diminished every second she didn't answer. However, after a while, she did give a real one. "Well, you came here to get away from Lumpy, right?"

"Yes," Giggles answered truthfully. "I was tired of being his slave but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, just remember that whatever is planned for us here, Lumpy is back in Tree Town and could never reach you again."

Giggles thought about that for a few seconds but then did smile genuinely. "That does actually really help. Thank you, Flaky. Though, could I asked you something?"

Flaky started involuntarily tapping her fingers together but answer, "Um… sure, what is it?"

"Well, it's obvious that you've been against this trip from the beginning so I have to ask: why did you come here in the first place?" Giggles asked, hoping she wasn't crossing any kind of line by doing so.

"Honestly, you're right, I was against this trip from the beginning and you have to keep in mind that I was there with Cuddles when the offer was made. I tried my damned hardest to talk him out of it but you know how he is; he never listens to reason. So, I came to try to protect him from himself."

"That doesn't make any sense…" Giggles hesitated before asking the next question but asked it anyways, "What was it like when the offer was made?"

The ghost of a smile that was un Flaky's face faded at that question, "I don't like to think about that. It was terrifying, even Cuddles was scared and I didn't think he was afraid of anything." As those words left his mouth, though, she remembered that episode last night.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to strike a nerve there."

"It's okay," Flaky said but her voice said something entirely different. "I do have a question for you though."

"And what is that?"

"Well, not so much of a question as an observation but when we woke up here, you called Lifty a bogart. I don't know what it means but I know I heard it before… from Disco Bear."

As soon as Flaky brought that up, a look of terror crossed Giggles' face. "Don't tell anyone!" she unexpectedly commanded.

Flaky, who was supposed to know fear better than anyone else, could not figure out the reason for that reaction, "What do you mean? Don't tell anyone what?"

Giggles was just getting worse and worse with every word. "Oh… you didn't… never mind, forget I said anything."

"No, just tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone." Flaky promised, still unable to figure out why Giggles was suddenly acting this way.

"You promise you won't laugh?" Giggles asked, only confusing Flaky even more.

"Yes, I promise I won't laugh," Flaky promised with certainty, no matter what it was Giggles had to say. "I would never laugh at you."

"Well, I guess it doesn't really matter now since he's back in Tree Town but…" There were quite a few seconds of silence as Giggles tried to muster up the courage to actually say it. "I have a crush on Disco Bear."

Flaky was shocked and wasn't sure whether to believe her or not but she did keep her promise not to laugh. "But… you always acted like you hated him."

"That was the point, you and everyone else was supposed to think that," Giggles admitted, not looking Flaky in the eye. "I was worried that everyone would laugh at me, especially Petunia. I didn't want to lose her as a friend… and now I have neither."

"Well…" Flaky tried to think of something comforting to say, having never expected this kind of news. "If it helps, Disco Bear would have come on this trip if Lifty hadn't stolen the last spot. He even asked about you specifically which seemed to be why he agreed."

"He really did?" Giggles asked as if Disco Bear asking about her came as a surprise, which it did.

"Yes, really," Flaky answered, deciding to leave out that he was told she was coming, before he asked. Besides, it was still a pretty big deal she supposed.

"So he really does like me." Giggles smiled. "I know he always flirted with me but he flirted with every girl in town."

"That's not true actually," Flaky commented. "He's never flirted with me before, not once, and I don't think he's flirted with Lammy either. So, just you and Petunia."

"Oh… I never realized that…"

"Never realized what?" They heard from behind them and turned to see Handy standing in the doorway.

"It's none of your business, Handy," Giggles said much to quickly and short. "It's just girl stuff." Well, okay, none of that was actually a lie…

"Wait, Flaky's a girl?" Handy asked and the look on his face said that he was serious.

"Yes, I'm a girl," Flaky affirmed, seeming unfazed by the question. After all, she was mistaken for a boy plenty of times before.

Handy thought about that for a second the just shrugged and said, "Alright, you just always struck me as a boy."

"Handy! You're being rude!" Giggles defended.

"What?" Handy asked feigning innocence. "It's just how I saw her. You have to remember that almost everyone in Tree Town is male and with you, Petunia, and Lammy it's obvious."

"It's still rude!" Giggles chided seriously.

"It's okay, Giggles, really, I've gotten used to people mistaking me for a boy. I'm not exactly sure why but they do." Flaky assured Giggles both truthfully and just wanting the arguing to stop.

Giggles was still hesitant to just let it go but reluctantly agreed, "Alright, as long as you're okay with it I guess."

"What's all this yelling about?" Cuddles mumbled from the doorway, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. After a few seconds he decided, "Never mind, that's not really what's important right now. What's important is finding a job for Giggles. Assuming you're still up for it, Giggles?"

"Yes, I am."

"Well, then think of all the jobs you've had back in Tree Town, even though they were all forced, is there anything that really stuck out to you?" Cuddles supplied figuring that was the best place to start.

"Well… I had worked this hospital a lot. Normally I hated it but that was because of Lumpy and also the large demand with the curse, neither of which would be an issue here. I did prefer just working the front desk there though. I'm not sure hospitals are even needed here; these bodies just seem so durable. So what would they go to one for."

"Well, it's worth looking into at least so let's start there. We should also get something to eat, we should have more than enough money left." No one had any complaints at that having not eaten since yesterday morning and, unlike Lifty, they were not used to that.

* * *

At about the same time, Lifty woke up freezing, obviously still on the park bench. The sun that was shining now was not enough to make up for the cold that clung to his skin like a reverse blanket.

He looked in his wallet reminding his that he still has three dollars left of the five Aiden gave him but looking at how expensive that roll was, he could already tell that won't get him very far.

He got up from the bench with his arms wrapped around themselves in order to preserve some warmth. He had quite a few hours before he was supposed to meet Aiden in the Auto Shop so he figured he should probably look for this homeless shelter though he wasn't exactly sure what to look for there.

Still, he pressed on not wanting to spend another night the way he had spent the last, he's not sure how this body could take it.

As he went, he found that keeping the promise to himself not to steal anything was only getting harder and harder every purse, every store, even every house he passed. He resisted the urge but he could not deny that it was there.

After all, he was incredibly desperate and he already knew how, but his will to be a better man was stronger. This isn't Tree Town. He has other ways of getting the money he needs.

As he walked, he came across the other ex-tree friends but turned and headed the other way.

* * *

As you had already figured out, Giggles, Cuddles, Flaky, and Handy were out looking for some kind of hospital for Giggles to work at. Despite his best efforts, Flaky did catch him but said nothing for reasons she herself couldn't figure out.

She was already baring the weight of two of her friend's secrets, there really wasn't much to lose in keeping one herself.

"I think this is it." Cuddles commented pulling Flaky out of her thoughts as the stopped in front of a huge, boxy building. "Even the hospitals are sharp like that though. Gosh, this world seems to have no regards for safety."

"Like you're one to talk," Flaky mumbled, just barely loud enough for Cuddles to catch. Unfortunately, he did and did not take the comment lightly.

"Flaky, that was completely uncalled for," Cuddles chided looking back at her. "Anyways, are you still sure of this Giggles, we could find a different job."

"No, I'm sure. This seems to be my best option and it can't be nearly as bad as it was in Tree Town for obvious reasons." Giggles agreed and actually did seem genuine this time. "So do we head in together?"

"That would be best yes," Cuddles said, not wanting to have to leave her alone again like he ended up having to at the fast food joint.

No one had any objections so they headed in through the front doors. It was obvious right away that they were right about this being a hospital but looking over the patients waiting, they wondered what they were even doing there since they didn't seem very injured at all…

"There must be something we're not seeing," Giggles mumbled in Gibberish before going up to the counter and trying out her English. "Um… I'm Giggles and I would like to inquire about doing what you're doing."

The lady stared for a second before stating, "You'll have to apply online at our website."

Those words meant nothing to any of the four but Giggles tried her best. "Um… we… I don't have access to online."

The lady rose an eyebrow at the weirdly worded question, "You mean the internet?" She sighed and offered, "I see what can be done just have a seat in the waiting area for now."

They took a seat was directed though they couldn't find four in a row, they went as close as they could. Giggles noticed that a native next to her was crying and holding her wrist, which was a darker color than the rest of her skin and was slightly misshapen but there was no bone exposed. _'Did she really come to the hospital for a broken wrist? Especially a closed fracture like that?'_ Giggles wondered to herself. _'Well, I assume if they're not used to real injuries, that might actually be a big deal.'_

"You should probably splint that for the wait?" Giggles supplied not sure how long she was there or how long she will be.

The native stopped crying and looked over at her. "A splint? I don't know how to do one of those."

"Well, I do if you're willing to let me help." The native was hesitant to accept this offer but did agree. Though Giggles didn't have the best equipment for this, she was able to fasten a functional splint for her write. "There, that should keep it safe until the doctor sees you."

"Thank you… Miss…."

"Giggles, my name is Giggles," she supplied. "And… well… let's just say I've handled much worst injuries."

"What do you mean?" the native asked confused. "Were you in the military or something?"

Giggles only shook her head and gave a candid response that, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me," The Native challenged.

Before Giggles could even start to explain Tree Town though, something she'd barely have any idea where to begin honestly, a nurse came from around the corner and called out a word Giggles did not know, "Alice."

The native got up from the seat, pushing herself up with her good arm. "That's me, sorry it had to cut short but thanks, Giggles,"

"I think Alice is supposed to be her name." Flaky cut in once she was gone. "Back at the burger joint, Cuddles and I meet these two guys with just as weird names. I think it might be common in this world."

"Well, if that's the case then just add it to the already long list of other weird things about this world." Giggles trailed looking around her at the other patients, some in even better shape than "Alice".

It wasn't much later than that when Giggles was called up herself, "So, I spoke with my boss and though we don't have any paper applications, you can use one of the computers here to complete the application. Alone though," she added, looking over the rest of the group.

"Giggles isn't going anywhere without me," Cuddles countered, stepping up to the counter.

"The application has to be done in privacy. Company policy. She either takes the application alone or she doesn't take it at all." Cuddles luckily did step back at that, knowing that they were desperate for some form of income to stay here. "Alright, then follow me 'Giggles'." The native said, not believing that was her real name as she led her down the hallway, leaving a different native to run the desk.

After a short walk, they stopped an unfamiliar device with a glowing screen. "The application is pulled up and ready to go," the native explained before leaving Giggles to flap in the wind with how to use this machine. The native made it seem like it should be common knowledge… which it probably is in this world.

To Giggles though, she had no idea. On closer examination, she found what looked a lot like a typewriter in front of it, she hoped it worked the same way as a typewriter. It was the small object with two buttons that was right next to the typewriters, also connected to the screen that still left her dumbfounded.

However, as she moved the object, she found that a small, white arrow moved the same direction across the screen. She lined it up and pushed the right button on the screen which pulled down a slew of choices. _'This is going to be harder than I thought.'_

* * *

After a while of what seemed like endless walking, Lifty was pretty sure he came across what he believed to be what Aiden had described. He went in finding rows of beds and alluring looking blankets. He really hoped he was right as he went to the most official-looking person there. "Umm… is this the homeless shelter?"

"Yes it is. Do you need a place to say?"

"I do. All I have is three dollars, a driver's license, and these clothes." Lifty explained honestly motioning himself over. "I did just apply for a job yesterday and am supposed to return this afternoon to see if I got it."

"That's great!" The native stated, her voice saying just that. "It is actually a requirement to stay here that you are actually trying to get a job."

It took Lifty a few seconds to process that. "So… does that mean that if I get the job then I'll have to leave?"

"Oh, goodness no." Lifty was quite taken back by the phrase that he never heard before but he hoped with the last word, which he did recognize, was the answer and the rest didn't create a negative and any doubt was soon squashed. "You can stay here for as long as you need, until you can afford your own place that is."

Lifty couldn't believe it. It was all too good to be true to him. Back in Tree Town, there were absolutely no resources available, once they quite, they were entirely on their own on the streets until they stole enough money to get their own apartment. He was actually lucky that Lumpy accepted that as long as they were able to get the rent to him one way or another… well, there was only one way. "That's incredible, I could definitely use that right now."

"Well, then follow me and I'll show you to what will be your bed." She led him over to a fairly simple bed with a blanket and pillow that even just get that was much better than he had at his apartment in Tree Town, even when you take Shifty out of the equation.

"Where does all this even coming from?" Lifty tried wracking his brain of any kind of explanation. Surely this stuff doesn't just materialize out of thin air in this world, does it? Well, it might be possible…

"It's usually donated." That didn't help Lifty at all have never heard such a word and he wasn't able to break it down like the last couple times. The native just went on not realizing that Lifty missed that word but she did end up answering his unasked question. "People will either give money or sometimes the item directly that they don't need for people in your situation."

"That's incredible," Lifty breathed looking around at other native who were at their own beds at about the same shape he was. That could help explain why nothing like this existed in Tree Town, the demand was too low… that and Lumpy's a greedy bastard and that's coming from an ex-thief.

"Well, if you need anything else. I'm Martha so just call for me."

' _This place sure has some of the most random names.'_ Lifty thought as he sat down on the mattress trying to think of what to do until he's to head back to the Auto Shop.

* * *

Since I imagine none of you want to just listen to how bored Lifty is, let's move onto a character we haven't even seen from since the first sentence but is still well-effected by a character's disappearance. Yes, I broke the forth wall, deal with it! I'll rebuild it now.

Mole was just leaving the house that he used to share with Handy wondering why he hasn't heard anything from the beaver for a while. Sure he knows that, unlike him, Handy's one of the friends that dies regularly but usually he would hear something by now.

So, why hasn't he? Mole had no idea. He was crossed off the list as a "living weapon" so they never even tried to ask him.

All he knew is that he couldn't find his best-friend anywhere and that was really bugging him as he got in his car to head to head to his job, which was going to be at the barber shop but he received a new verbal schedule from Lumpy the morning with no explanation given.

All he was told was that he'll be headed for the hospital instead of the barber shop. He's never worked the hospital before but he did work as an EMT twice. He has overheard horror stories about working there but even he had no choice in the matter.

He pointed his car in what he was pretty sure to be the right direction of the hospital and slammed on the gas hoping to "accidently" hit a few Tree Friends on the way.

After all, he did have a spot to keep.

* * *

"Figuring that device out was harder than the questions themselves, and that includes his having to translate it from English," Giggles tells the rest of the group in Gibberish as soon as she got out of applying. "The technology they have here is was more advanced than anything in Tree Town."

"More advanced technology?" Flaky gasped, by nature, fearing the worst. "What if someone's using it to watch our every move?!"

"Um… I hate to break it to you Flaky…" Cuddles hesitated, unsure if he should tell her the truth and decided it was best not to. "Never mind."

Unfortunately, he had already gone too far to mend his mistake that easily as he could tell as he could see her fingers tapping together and also realized that was likely where he got that habit. A look of terror crossing her face as she demanded, "No, not never mind, tell me what you were going to say."

"Back in Tree Town… Lumpy was watching everything we said and did everywhere but our own houses."

"What?!" Flaky gasped, surprising the other three. "How come no one told me that?"

The rest of the three looked at each other and shrugged before Cuddles answered, "We thought it was common knowledge."

Flaky only fumed for only a few seconds before sighing and admitting with a hint of shame, "I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, and it does explain how Lumpy knows everything he does."

"Okay… back to the topic at hand." Giggles interjected as they left the hospital. "It's a good thing our apartment came with a phone because they need one to reach us. It also asked for something called a cell phone… I have no idea what that is but it seemed important."

No one else knew any more than she did. They know what a phone is, they had those in Tree Town and used them all the time but the cell in front meant absolutely nothing to them.

A while into the walk, Cuddles came across a familiar face, or, more so, a familiar face came across him. Catherine skated over to the group, stopping just in front of Cuddles. "I was just looking for you, Slippers."

"You were?" Cuddles asked, a bit surprised, though he did remember the meeting it was brief and he didn't think he made that much of an impression. "And my name's actually Cuddles."

"Cuddles?" Catherine raised in eyebrow and actually started to laugh. "There's no way in hell I'm calling you that. I'll just stick to Slippers." Cuddles did have anyway to time to interject as Catherine went on. "Anyways, Slippers, I was wondering if you'd like to get in with my group and we'll show you how to have some real fun."

Cuddles knew exactly what he meant by that, the same kind of stuff Cuddles did back in Tree Town, except that his excuses for doing that stuff no longer exist in this world. Would he be willing to risk his life when he had the choice? For reasons even he was unsure of he answered, "Yes." He was already regretting his answer with every word. "I will need to get a new board though. Mine… broke."

"Alright, well, I'll catch up with you later, Slippers. Just remember YOLO!" Catherine called after as he skated past the group.

Once Catherine was out of earshot, Giggles cut it, defaulting back to Gibberish, "I thought you said we were only spending money on necessities."

Cuddles hadn't even thought about it when now that it was brought up, he realized that he was being a hypocrite. "Well… I know I said that but…" Cuddles was having a hard time digging his way out of this hole and this time, it actually was his fault. "But, I said until we figure out how to get more, which we just did."

"So, that applies to all of us now?" Giggles asked, with her arms folded.

Cuddles didn't really have any choice but to answer, "Yes, yes it does."

"Cuddles," Flaky suddenly cut in. "You barely learned how to walk in this body, do you really think you can skate in it?" Cuddles did not think about that...

* * *

After what felt like too long for him, Lifty was heading out of the Homeless Shelter and over to the Auto Body place.

He wasn't sure what to expect from this. The shelter had got him somewhat nicer clothes than the ones he entered this world in, it wasn't full of holes at least but could his score on the test part really make up for him being a total nobody in this world… literally, actually.

He was also trying to figure out how to explain the blanks on the application because the truth would be nearly impossible to believe. Not to mention that he didn't even know what some of those things were.

When he left the shop, he had felt so confident about his outlook but on his way back, he was full of nothing but doubt. The only thing he was glad for was that he did have that as a demonstrable skill or he wouldn't have any leg to stand on.

Once he reached the shop, he was also glad to see that Aiden was working there that day. He wondered if people in this world only have one job, there's certainly a much larger population so that is a distinct possibility.

Lifty came up to the counter. "Please tell me you have good news, Aiden."

* * *

Lumpy leaned back in his chair nibbling on a block of cheese, he had finally finished rewriting and distributing all of the new schedules. The good news, for him at least, was that besides the five he already knew were gone, everyone else was out and about, getting themselves and others killed but not permanently losing any more workers.

He questioned having Mole work the hospital but he couldn't deny that he did a fairly good job as a EMT. Not as good as himself but certainly better than Sniffles so he seemed to be the best option for the time being.

He didn't assign any specific job for himself for the day so that he could try to figure out how and why they were sent to this other world.

He looked over all the footage he could find relevant but there were massive gaps both the day of their disappearance and the day before. Whatever sent them there, must have somehow wiped the incriminating footage from all his security cameras. But who would have such power.

He knew there was only one answer as to who but that left the strong and unanswerable: Why?

* * *

Shifty was really struggling on his own pulling off even some of the simplest heist without the help of his brother and he knew it was all his fault. As he headed to his once shared apartment, he spotted an eviction notice.

This was not an uncommon sight for the twins but with how things have already been turning out, he had no idea how he was going to come up with the money for rent in time to not be sent back onto the streets.

He ignored the notice heading into his apartment to get a bit of rest but accidently knock a framed picture off the desk and when he went to pick it back up, he couldn't help but look at it. It was a very old picture, back when he and Lifty were only kits.

Things were much simpler those days in almost every day. There was no curse, Lumpy did not rule the town as a tyrant. They weren't as poor as dirt. There was no need to steal a thing.

Most of all, nothing could ever come between the twins. In fact, Shifty had even promised that nothing ever would but that was over a thousand year ago and a promise he knows he's broken innumerable times.

Even then, what he told Lifty on the very first day seemed to be permanently burned into his brain. "Come on, we've always been fast. Maybe we can out run death. I promise I won't let go. I'll never leave you behind. We'll make it through this together." ******

A single tear fell as he returned the picture to his desk, cracks lacing the glass from the fall right down the middle. "I'm sorry I was such a bad brother, Lifty. If I only kept my promise, we still be together."

 ***As for Cuddles being afraid of the dark, give me one other reason he would have lite that match in Can't Stop Coffin.**

 ****Quote taken straight from my other story Curse This Town.**

 **We have a few cliffhangers here actually. Please review and I would really appriciate constructive crisism and an not bothered by flames. Just please review.**


	6. To The Safety

**Hey, so, I decided that 6,000 to 7,000 words was to much for me to write alone so, this chapter and all after it will be between 4,000 and 5,000 words. I hope you all understand.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Happy Tree Friends all rights go to Mondo Media.**

Since now he's stuck at least trying, Cuddles bought a skateboard from some of the group's fund and it wasn't as expensive as the four of them were worried, no it was time to try it out with the new body that he's still getting used to.

Apparently they do have helmets and pads and Flaky insisted on getting them at the very least for during practice and, surprisingly, Cuddles didn't interject. ' _At least he's being somewhat safe for once.'_ Flaky thought.

They headed back to the place where they first came to this world for him to try to skate across the sidewalk.

It turned out to be good that he took the protection because he ended up falling more than a few times and none of the four could hope but think how that, in Happy Tree, he'd be dead even with the protection.

With practice though, he was able to get the hang of it and skate almost as well as he had back in his old body. "I must say, I'm impressed," Flaky admitted, even though she didn't like the idea in the first place.

"Yeah, it's just, Catherine wasn't wearing any of this stuff when he skated over either time, he might not react well to them." Cuddles admitted thinking back to his two encounters with him.

"Well, he'll have to deal with it because you're wearing them. I know you're more durable now but I'm not sure an injury would heal as easily in this world," Flaky cut in, thinking back to the hospital.

"I'm not sure about that…" Cuddles trailed off, weighing his options, he was glad to have the protection each time he fell but he also didn't want to want to stick out negatively anymore. "And actually, I'm not sure where or how to find him," he admitted, trying to think of anything that would help him find him.

He didn't have to think too hard about it when he heard called from the distance. "Yo, Slippers!" He turned and sure enough, Catherine skated over, this time Jake from the joint was with him. "I see you got a new board but what are you wearing all that unnecessary stuff for. I mean, YOLO, right?"

No one was surprised when Cuddles obliged, taking off the pads and helmet. Though, he did wonder in his own mind what this word he keeps saying even means.

"Cuddles, I really don't think you should…" Flaky started to say but was cut off.

"This is my decision, not yours, Flaky." Cuddles said making Flaky huff, even in this new world, he still refuses to listen to listen to reason. "I'm not going to make you come with but this is my decision."

"Yeah, Flaky." Catherine remarked mockingly. "Let the man live a little. I mean, what are you, his mother?"

Catherine didn't know it but that hit much harder than it was intended to… and I was intended to hit pretty hard to begin with. The parents of every single one of them, everyone in town but Cub, had fled town, they couldn't blame them, especially considering that they just did the same thing but it still hurt to be reminded of it.

"No, I am not his mother but I am his friend and am just looking out for him."

Cuddles looked back at Flaky, seeming to actually question his decision but he needed to learn more about the culture of this world so he did stick to it turning back to Catherine I did surprise his friends saying, "I'm sorry, Flaky but I'm going and you're not going to stop me."

"Well… so much for sticking together." Giggles noted as she watched them skate off. Then she remembered Flaky's reasons for coming to this world. "And you're going to follow him, aren't you?" Flaky was gone before she could even finish asking that question.

* * *

Flaky may not skate but she can run, she had no issues catching up with Cuddles and the others. She stayed hidden for the moment, not sure how he'd react if he knew she was watching him.

Cuddles didn't notice her either as they arrived at some sort of skate park which maybe Flaky's heart spike at all the gruesome deaths that could take place on such equipment. 'What do you think you're doing, Cuddles?' Flaky thought to herself as she watched.

What she didn't know was that Cuddles was wondering the same thing of himself as he looked over the park himself but he was too far in to really back out that easily. His seemingly more durable body did provide a bit of comfort. Enough to push himself forward.

"You ready for this, Slippers?" Catherine asked in a tone that actually only lead to one answer.

"I'm not suuuur-ah!" Cuddles exclaimed as he was pushed into the bowl he was able to keep himself on the board at least but he wasn't happy about being pushed but caught himself as hypocritical.

Flaky gasped to herself when she saw Catherine push him and though she was relieved that he was okay, it only diminished the already low level of trust she had of the reckless native.

"Not too bad, Slippers but work on doing it yourself," Catherine laughed before dropping into the bowl and doing a kick flip at the end.

"You go, girl!" Jake called out.

' _Wait, Catherine is a girl?_ ' Cuddles thought, the realization distracting him enough to know him off his own board. He got pretty scraped up in the fall but nothing was broken so he got right back up on his board.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about! YOLO!" Catherine called seeing him get back up and keep going. There went that word again and every time she uses it, it becomes more and more confusing what that word is supposed to mean.

* * *

Meanwhile back with Lifty, "Well, the blanks on the application were hard to ignore but with the score on the test, you got the job." Aiden explained having honestly had to pull a few strings with his manager out of sympathy for the homeless man.

Lifty's face instantly lit up at the news. The mere idea of earning money honestly for the first time in well… as long as he can remember, was just too perfect. "Really?! That's great! When do I start?"

"That's the bad news. The next trainings not for another week so you're going to have to wait until then but were you at least able to find the shelter."

"Yes I was," Lifty affirmed, tossing around the idea of actual training for a job, something Tree Town didn't really have either, through his head and wondering what it would be like.

"That's good at least then. I'll see you next Wednesday at 8:30? Does that work for you?"

"Yes it does," Lifty affirmed, making a note to talk to Martha about when that is assuming that the time is a bit different there than in Tree Town, at least by what day of the week it currently is. "Thank you so much for this, I won't let you regret it." Lifty promised as he left.

"I'm sure I won't." Aiden said as he left.

* * *

Back in Tree Town, Shifty was having trouble pulling off his first ever heist alone. A small heist would seem like a smart but he had to somehow turn up rent soon or he'd be thrown back out in the streets.

No he needed something big. He didn't have any other options. Maybe he could break into the candy store and strike a deal with Nutty again but there are so many locks to keep the squirrel out and Lifty was usually the one to pick the lock, he wasn't so good at that part. I mean, he could do it but not as quickly.

Then he realized a bonus that the trip had left, there are now houses that were left without any owners to protect the contents, he wasn't sure who the other two were but he could get plenty emptying Cuddles' and Flaky's houses if he can get them before Lumpy did.

He got in the van and headed to Flaky's house knowing that hers would be the hardest, he'll need time to get through all the locks and the windows are rubber so that's not an option to simply smash them.

It took him quite some time but he was able to get through all the locks on Flaky's back door and made his way in. "Let's hope she has anything worthwhile," he said to himself, and started to search.

* * *

If anyone back in Tree Town was bothered more by the trip than Shifty, that would be Lumpy. With a pool as small as it was already, as small as it is, losing four workers took a huge hit that left him scrambling.

Days off had become non-existent for anyone, including himself and Flippy (who luckily understood as long as he could pick) and even then, the town was struggling to make ends meet.

Luckily for Shifty, he was stuck working on his farm and didn't have any time to worry about clearing the houses of the disappeared, he needed to focus on keeping Tree Town self-sustaining and even some luxuries couldn't be cut because of some of the residents there he remembered harvesting the sugar canes, if only Nutty was one of the five that disappeared.

If only there was a way to get imports into Tree Town like they did forever ago but a death certificate trumps all other forms of identification everywhere else. To the rest of the world, Tree Town hasn't existed for thousands of years and there was nothing that could be done to change that.

He shook the thought from his head and wiped the sweat from his brow, pressing on his farming.

* * *

Not sure what else to do, Giggles and Handy went back to their apartment and settled down on the floor, Handy was back on his ranting about how unfair it is that he still doesn't have any hands.

"Handy, just, please stop," Giggles cut in and luckily Handy did listen to her request.

He did have one question for her though: "So, if you weren't even told about the Cursed Idol's involvement, what were you told about the trip?"

"Just that they were leaving that world and can take a few friends with." Giggles answered honestly. "I didn't ask for any more information, I didn't think I needed to know any more."

"Really? That's it? I have a hard time imagining Cuddles would leave so much out to you when he pretty much told me everything, and that was while he was badly concussed."

"Actually, it wasn't…" Giggles broke off realizing what she was about to say and finally realizing that she had been getting mad at the wrong person this whole time. "It wasn't Cuddles who explained it, Flaky did."

"Oh, well, that makes a lot more sense then but why do you keep getting mad at Cuddles for what Flaky left out?"

Giggles had to think pretty hard on that one. "I'm not exactly sure. I guess it was almost kind of the default."

"Default? I thought you loved Cuddles."

"I used to," Giggles admitted with a shrug, "but then I saw his bedroom one day and there were pictures of me all over, it was the creepiest thing I'd ever seen. I broke up with him but he was relentless. That man just can't take a hint." Handy could hear her anger rise with every word.

"Yet you agreed to go with him on this trip?"

"Yes, because no matter how much I hate him, I hate Lumpy more. If you ever worked the hospital, you'd understand." She started to tell him the story of Disco Bear's heart attack when the phone rang.

"Sorry, I'm going to go get that," Giggles said, getting up and going over to the phone and removing the phone from the hook, hoping it worked close enough to the phones back in Tree Town but even with the phone in her hand, it kept ringing.

Turning the phone around, she saw numerous buttons, mostly numbers but one of which looked like what she wanted and pressed it. "Giggles speaking," she said into the mic.

"Yes, Giggles, this is Jenny from the hospital. I was wondering if we could set up to do a job interview."

"A job interview…" Giggles trailed off looking over at Handy who just shrugged not knowing what that is either. Though, the way the lady said it made it sound like she should know so she just went with it as if she did. "Well, I'm pretty much open for any time."

"Alright, how's tomorrow at 1:30 in the afternoon sound?"

"That works well with me," Giggles said, hoping that time worked the same way here as it did in Tree Town.

"Perfect, I'll see you tomorrow at 1:30." Jenny dismissed before hanging up the phone.

Giggles put the phone back on the hook, turning back to Handy. "So, apparently I have something called a job interview at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon… I have no idea what that is but I think I'm supposed to go to the hospital at that time."

Handy shrugged, "Seems like the best guess, so what was that you were saying about the bike pump?"

* * *

Flaky wasn't sure how long she was going to stay there besides as long as she needs to, they'd been at it for a while and she was almost spotted a few times.

She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts from her brain and stay focused. It all looked so dangerous, yet besides that one slip up that was virtually nothing, he was coming out unscathed.

"Incredible," She breathed both at the skills and overall durability and good luck. Then she realized something that made her feel selfish: Petunia, Toothy, Russell, even Flippy, as much as she fears him.

Everyone they left back in Tree Town to die and come back and die... she tried to push the thought away. She was saving them from a trap, not just leaving them in a curse. Still, part of her was a bit guilty.

No, she had to focus on Cuddles; that's her number one priority and as the day went on, that was becoming more and more necessary.

She was almost ready to interfere when Cuddles stopped himself. "Um… I think I should get back to my friends."

"Aren't we your friends now, Slippers?" Catherine asked skating over to him. Though her tone was more patronizing than genuine.

Cuddles either didn't catch that or didn't care because he just answered, "Yes you guys are but my other friends need me more right now."

"You mean like that coward redhead with all the dandruff?"

That grated Cuddles nerves. "Her name is Flaky and she happens to be my best friend so I'd rather you didn't talk to her like that." Flaky gasped having not expected him to stand up for her like that. Catherine stayed silent. "You know what? I'm leaving whether you want me to or not." He said before skating off to the apartment.

Flaky didn't leave yet though, she stayed in her spot watching Cuddles' new "friends" with suspicion. "Well, that was lame." Catherine commented, rolling her eyes. "And I can't get over his stupid bunny slippers. I must say though, he can sure take a hit."

"Still think he's worth it?" Jake asked, stopping as well.

"I think so. Like I said, he can take a punch. That push is in there somewhere. It shouldn't be hard for him to embrace YOLO."

* * *

Meanwhile, Cuddles arrived at the apartment to find Giggles and Handy sitting on the floor chatting but there obviously wasn't any sign of his best friend. "Where's Flaky?" He asked, catching both of their attentions.

"We don't know," Giggles admitted, starting to get worried something terrible happened to her. "She followed you their so we figured you'd be getting back together."

"Well, shit, I didn't see her at all," Cuddles noted and turned around. "I'm going to go look for her." He thought about his new friends a bit and added. "You two stay here, I'll bring her back."

Neither opposed as he left the apartment and headed back to the skate park hoping to find her hiding somewhere there alive and in one piece. Surely, she couldn't be that hard to spot when he's actually looking for her.

He was relieved to find her hiding behind a nearby bush. He went over and tapped her shoulder which of course made her jump back before she realized who it is. "Cuddles, how many times do I have to tell you not to scare me like that," she chided but kept her voice down.

"Well, sorry but this time, you kind of deserved it after you just scared all three of us." Cuddles folded his arms, looking down upon you.

"I scared you guys?" Flaky asked in surprise and confusion. "How?"

"Giggles and Handy were expecting you to be back with me and I didn't even know you followed me in the first place. We thought something terrible happened to you."

"Oh…" Flaky hesitated, having not expected to cause such a scare but she could certainly understand why it would, especially in this world that they still know how little about. "I'm sorry, I didn't expect to cause that much of a scare, I was just checking out your friends… I don't trust them."

Cuddles paused looking back at Catherine and Jake who hadn't noticed them. He didn't really trust them either but he felt as though he was left with little choice in the matter at this point. "I see. Well…" he wasn't sure exactly what to say at the moment. "Just… don't do it again. You really did scare us."

"Alright, I won't."

* * *

They got back to the apartment in little time at all. "I found her!" he called out as they entered.

Giggles immediately got up and went over to them. "Flaky! Are you okay?" she asked, looking her friend over for injuries.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Flaky said, fidgeting awkwardly under her scrutinizing gaze. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you guys. I was just watching Cuddles' new friends."

"Well, that's a relief," Giggles said, stopping looking her over. "I think I have some good news though. The hospital called and wanted to set up something called a job interview. I don't know what it is but it's tomorrow at one."

"Sounds like a good thing to me," Cuddles agreed. "Maybe it's like interviewing for the paper and they'll just ask you some questions. I don't know what kind of questions but that's what it sounds like."

"It would make sense but I guess we'll find out for sure when we go to the hospital tomorrow."

* * *

Petunia was still having trouble accepting that her best friend and boyfriend were gone forever. When death had been such a temporary reality for so long, she hadn't expected there to be any way to lose someone forever and it wasn't even though death but they left to some other world and didn't even think to invite her.

When she thought about it though, she might have said no if they did invite her; the idea of the unfamiliar diseases and various filth she would likely be introduced to made her skin crawl just thinking about it but it would have been nice to have the option.

Speaking of diseases, she had just finally gotten off a shift at the hospital and wanted little more than to go home and get some rest after working all night. She hated the time to time shifts, unlike time to time or death, when she had died, Sniffles had managed to bring her back to life and right back to work.

She got in her car, glad to find it in one piece and started the drive home, narrowly missing Shifty's van on the road.

When it went by, she couldn't help but notice through her distain that it was only Shifty, Lifty was obviously nowhere in sight.

' _Could he…'_ she trailed, looking back through the rearview mirror but shook the thought from her head. ' _Of course not, he must have already died for today.'_ She knew it was rare for one twin to die and the other survive, to her it was still much more likely than the truth.

She turned her attention back to the road only to need to swerve to avoid smashing into a tree, the sudden and random swerve causing her to run over Cub, who was playing nearby, his father asleep in front of his newspaper.

Petunia gasped seeing what she did, even though Pop didn't. _'I shouldn't be thinking about these things while I drive.'_ She chided herself and drove the rest of the way home without losing her attention again.

Once she got home, she tried calling Toothy but the phone just rang and rang. She supposed she should have expected that; he's probably either working or dead at this point in the day.

She hung up the phone and went to bed, too tired to really focus on anything else. She was having nightmares about the trip when she slept. Various different traps the group might have gotten themselves into and while all of them were equally unlikely: she knew the Cursed Idol's motives couldn't have been pure.

"Oh please take care of yourselves." As if to remind her to worry about herself, the Mole's car crashed through her house, flattening the skunk.

* * *

Back in the other world, Lifty came running back into the homeless shelter in a better mood then he could ever remember being in. Once he got there, he started looking for Martha.

"Martha, Martha!" He called out, looking around.

"Martha went home," one of the other homeless people told him from their bed.

Lifty turned to see the person dressed in rags not much better than he came into this world wearing. The person had short black hair and no lumps but curiously had skin much darker than his. "She has a house?"

"Of course she does, she's just one of the volunteers here," the native explained. Lifty didn't know the word he used but didn't ask because the way he said it made it seem like a word he should know. "I'm Jerome, by the way."

' _Gosh, how do they remember all these random names?_ ' Lifty wondered before introducing himself, "I'm Lifty."

"Lifty, huh, pretty weird name how did you get it? You're not a thief are you?" Jerome asked, unknowingly.

Lifty immediately panicked a bit at the question. "No, I'm not… I mean, not anymore."

"No judgement here, you'd be surprised how many people here have wound up on the wrong side of the law. Desperation does that to people the good thing is you decided to change." Jerome explained, laying down.

"Yeah, well, I came from somewhere that didn't have stuff like this, theft was my only option."

"Then there's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of," Jerome corrected.

"Well…" Lifty hesitated before realizing he was right and only sighed. "If only those I came with saw it that way."

"Well, I think it's their loss. You seem like a pretty cool guy, Lifty."

"Thanks," Lifty said, giving a genuine smile that someone who knows what he used to be was still thinking well of him. "That really means a lot to me."

"It's no problem, Lifty. I get how hard things can get and I couldn't imagine in a country like you must have come from."

Lifty wasn't sure what the word country meant but decided to just go with it. "Yeah, and most of the theft was my brother Shifty's idea anyways. He really didn't want me to leave either, almost killed me trying."

The look on Jerome's face alone told Lifty that, some way or another, death was much more serious here than in Tree Town.

 **Cliffhanger! Kind of I mean. Please review and constuctive critism is greatly appreciated.**


	7. In Ter View

Giggles, Flaky, Cuddles, and Handy were sitting on the apartment floor, discussing what a job interview must be. Obviously none of them were familiar with the term so they were trying to break it down. "Well, an interview is where you ask a lot of questions right?" Handy supplied. "Maybe that's what it is to find out more about the job?"

"That could be," Giggles agreed, not sure what else it could be.

"Wait a second, are you sure interview was one word? It might be an in ter view, Like… I don't know, you see what it's like in the job," Flaky suggested earning a few weird looks. "What, it's possible."

"I suppose that's possible but I'm not even sure ter is a word in English." No one else was sure, never having heard it so they just assumed it was not. "Maybe we should just ask a native about it."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, we already look so weird and unknowledgeable to them we wouldn't want to look even worse." Handy pointed out.

"Well, we don't really have any better ideas." Giggles reminded.

There were quite a few moments of silence as the group tried to think of a better way to get the information they need. "What about a library?" Flaky suddenly suggested. "I mean, assuming they exist in this world."

Giggles face lit up at the idea. "I think I remember seeing what might be one on the way here."

"Well, then we have no time to waist," Cuddles said, getting up to his feet and the others soon followed suit. "I never thought I'd say this but to the library!" Giggles rolled her eyes a bit at the comment but led the way.

* * *

Meanwhile in Happy Tree, Shifty was just finishing loading the rest of Flaky's stuff into the van, pleased with the turn out. "Wow, if I knew the coward carried so much stuff, I would have set on those locks a long time ago. Alright let's… right." Shifty sighed. "It's just not the same." He tried to shut the back but it just flew back open. "Really need to get that fixed."

Shifty didn't even bother trying to shut it again knowing it won't work and got in the driver's seat driving away trying to be careful and not lose any of the loot.

As soon as he heard sirens, he threw that caution to the wind and floored it but it was no use, the van still couldn't go fast enough to make a clean get away. When the patrol car pulled in front of the van, Shifty figured he'd be back tomorrow if this killed him and he couldn't afford to lose his loot.

So, Shifty didn't let up on the gas even a little, plowing the cop car out of the way, shielding his face from the broken glass with his arms as he did so.

Despite the pain coursing through his arms and body now, Shifty grabbed back onto the wheel and pressed on with dogged determination, taking the lack of siren now as a good sign that the crash had killed Officer Lumpy.

He did his signature grin as he pulled into the alley that they usually set up their stolen wears and started unloading Flaky's stuff glad to find that he didn't lose too much on the way there.

"Now I just need to wait." Shifty said once everything was unloaded. He was sure he could get lots of money for this junk.

* * *

Back in the new world, our group had just arrived at the library, relieved to find that's what it actually was. Well, all except for Cuddles. "Alright, let's just find the information we need and get out of here."

Though they were a bit annoyed by Cuddles' attitude towards the library, no one objected as Giggles went up to who seemed to be the librarian. "Excuse me." Giggles said politely.

"Yes, how may I help you?" the native librarian asked. "Need help finding anything?"

"Yes, I'm looking for any books about…" Giggles got a bit stuck trying to remember the word but did eventually get it. "…Job interviews."

The native librarian thought about it for a second then asked, "You mean like tips for them?" Sure… let's go with that. Giggles nodded. "Alright, let me take a look at that." The native librarian turned her attention to a computer like the one Giggles applied on and started typing something in.

"Those things are so confusing," Giggles commented in Gibberish so that the native librarian couldn't understand. "What is she even doing?" No one knew the answer to her question.

It wasn't for a few seconds before the native librarian stopped typing and spoke up, "Alright, looks like we have something for you. I'll write down the number." She pulled out a piece of paper and wrote something down, handing it to the group.

Giggles took a look at the paper, recognizing the numbers but not understanding their significance. "This will be harder than I thought," she admitted in Gibberish.

"Why are you guys just speaking gibberish?" the native librarian unexpectedly asked.

"You know Gibberish?" Giggles asked a bit hopeful having not expected their native language to exist in this world but it was possible since English obviously existed in it.

The native librarian only looked at her weird though which squashed that theory. Especially after what she said next. "No, gibberish, you know, nonsense."

"Oh, right, nonsense." Giggles tried to act like she knew that as she tried to think of an answer and settled for the partial truth. "It's not nonsense though, it's the native language where we come from so we speak it sometimes."

"Oh! Sorry if I offended you in anyway. I didn't know," the native librarian said sheepishly. The reaction confused the group about why they would be offended by that. They all made the note that gibberish meant nonsense in this world.

"No, you didn't offend us. It's not a very well-known language," Giggles said, not sure what else to say in this situation.

"Well, alright then," the native librarian said about as awkward as the group was. Much to their relief, she asked, "Do you need any help finding the book?"

They were hesitant to accept the help and look unknowledgeable again but they knew they couldn't really do it without her help so she answered, "Yes."

"Alright, follow me then," the native librarian said, coming out from behind the desk and leading them deeper into the library. All of them did follow her, even Cuddles, as they went to find the book.

As they went, Flaky noticed some numbers on the end of the shelves that might explain the numbers they were given to find the book.

"Can I see the number again," the native librarian asked and Giggles complied, handing over the paper she was given. "Alright, I got that." They headed to a shelf that seemed to be their final destination.

The native librarian looked over the shelves before grabbing a book that had the same number printed on the spine and titled, 'Job Interviews for Dummies'. Okay, now was the time to be offended. "Dummies?" Giggles asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"What?" The native librarian looked at the book and realized what she was complaining about. "Oh! No, it's not supposed to be calling you a dummy; it's just a book series."

"Well… if you're sure…" Giggles said taking the book. "Thank you for helping me find it."

"It was no problem. Is there anything else I can help you find?"

"No this is it." Giggles affirmed.

"Alright, just let me know if that changes," the native librarian told them before returning to the desk.

Giggles reverted back to Gibberish as she turned back to the rest of the group, opening the book she got. "Looks like we got it. That was a good idea, Flaky," she complimented.

"Thank you, so what's the verdict?" Flaky asked speaking in Gibberish as well. "What is a job interview?"

Giggles flipped a few pages for a bit, glad to have something familiar to check before answering. "We weren't even close, looks like it's where they'll ask me a bunch of questions to see if I'm right for the job."

"That's really it?" Cuddles asked, looking over her shoulder at the book. "Well, that's ridiculous."

"Yeah, it is. And according to this I'm supposed to dress up nice for it to set a good impression. So, we're gonna have to buy something better to wear."

"Dress up for it?" Cuddles asked skeptically, still looking over her shoulder. "That's weird but if it will help you get the job, we'll get something."

"Yeah, it is and look at some of the questions they ask. Like this: 'Why do you want to work here?' umm… the paycheck." Giggles did her namesake then added. "I don't think that's the answer they want."

"Yeah, probably not but what can you answer besides that?" Flaky asked, thinking it over. "That you like helping people that need it?"

"Yeah, it looks like something like that. I guess I need to figure that answer out by tomorrow because it looks like they all ask that."

"Are you going to check out that book?" Flaky asked.

"Yeah, I think I should," Giggles agreed, flipping through the book. "And you guys could use it if you ever have one."

"I guess that will be necessary," Cuddles agreed. "So we can go?"

Giggles sighed. "Yes, we can go."

* * *

Lifty on the other hand was still talking to Jerome. "So yeah, I got a job over at an auto repair shop. Had to fill out an application and take a test on the knowledge."

"Really? That was all?" Jerome asked surprising Lifty as it was already way more than in Tree Town. "You didn't have to do a job interview?"

"What's that?" Lifty asked, never having heard about it just as the rest hadn't.

"You know, where you go and they ask you questions to see if you're right for the job."

"That was about what the test was," Lifty said, misunderstanding what he was saying.

Jerome however, went for that answer. "Okay, I guess you were a bit lucky."

"I do take it as very lucky. It's a hell of a lot better than things were back in Happy Tree."

"Happy Tree? That's what it's called?" Lifty nodded. "Doesn't sound very happy."

"You have no idea."

"You could tell me."

"You would never believe me if I told you." Despite his inexperience with these faces, Lifty could tell he wasn't taking that for an answer so he decided to tell the truth and let him think he was joking. "Happy Tree is cursed. It's full of very violent and painful deaths."

Jerome looked about as shocked as you'd expect him to be. "That sounds horrifying. How did you survive it?"

"I didn't. I died more times than I could count."

There was silence for a few seconds before Jerome hit Lifty's arm in a playful way. "That's not funny. I thought you were serious there."

"I am serious. That's how things were there." Lifty was confused why he would believe him before but not now. "I told you you'd never believe me."

"It's impossible. If you died, you couldn't be here right now."

"What? Is right now the dead persons time?" Lifty asked struggling to understand the words.

"No dead persons what? No, you'd never be able to be here. Death is it. It's the end of everything," Jerome explained, just as confused by his words as the other way around. "It was a good joke though."

The realization hit Lifty hard. The implication clear as day that death here is permanent. An idea that was just as shocking and weird to him as temporary death was to Jerome. He supposed it made sense. Death here was so rare that the cost must be steeper. He never expected so much so.

"Oh, right, a joke." Lifty caved not wanting to explain deeper into Happy Tree when it doesn't get any easier to believe.

"Still though, death or no death, it doesn't sound very happy. Sounds like some kind of dictatorship."

"It is," Lifty said, actually knowing that word. "Lumpy uses everyone as slaves and because I refused, I lost everything."

"That sounds awful. I'm sorry you had to go through all that," Jerome said sympathetically. "You didn't deserve that. You may have been a thief but you're a nice guy and I'm glad you escaped."

"Thank you for that." Lifty managed a small smile glad to hear that from someone even though it wasn't someone from Tree Town. It was great to hear anyone say.

"It's no problem. I only said the truth. Things are going to get better. You'll get that job and get out of here to your own place.

"You're probably right," Lifty said, his hope for the future rising.

* * *

With Giggles gone, Petunia was stuck working the hospital, currently trying to take care of Nutty, who had too much sugar… again. "Well, Nutty," she said not having the energy to deal with the candy freak at the time. "Looks like you have diabetes… again."

Nutty just kept jittering as normal and said something that wasn't clear English or Gibberish and as a consequence, Petunia couldn't understand what he said at all.

It wasn't all that important that she knew what the nonsense meant. She already knew that it wouldn't change how he acts and once tomorrow comes, he won't be diabetic anymore. She also knew she had to somehow give him an insulin shot.

The most obvious problem was he'll never sit still, which makes it almost impossible to get a needle in the right place. Still she had to try or face Lumpy's wrath.

"Nutty can you at least try to be still?" Petunia asked, but it was no use as he just kept jittering without rest. "I don't have the patience for this." Petunia pulled out some restraints and did her best to strap him down to the bed.

Once he was strapped down, Petunia did the injection then untied him from the bed. "Alright, you're good to go, Nutty. I'm not going to bother telling you to watch your sugar because I know you won't."

Petunia sigh as Nutty jittered out of the room. She was already there for nine hours and her shift was nowhere near over and it was a time to time shift so she wouldn't even escape through death.

Not only that but she was really missing Giggles and Handy deeply. It was still hard to believe they were gone forever. Luckily or unluckily, depending on how you look at it, Petunia didn't have much time to dwell on those thoughts as her pager buzzed calling her to tend to another patient.

When she got there, she couldn't even recognize who the patient was. There was just a huge pile of body parts that were chopped up by something. Her work was already cut out for her that she had to sew him back together… literally. "Oh, what is even the point of this?"

* * *

"What is even the point of this?" Giggles asked, looking through a rack of clothes at a store in the other world. "I hate clothing."

"We all do but first off all, it seems to be mandatory here because I haven't seen anyone without them." Cuddles pointed out what the others had managed to miss. "That and these clothes specifically will apparently help you get a job, which we need."

"I guess that's true. Things are very different here than in Happy Tree," Giggles stated the obvious as she picked a longer black piece of wrap around cloth like the one she came into this world wearing. "How about this?" She asked the rest of the group, switching to English.

"I think it looks good. Though, I'm not quite sure what they'll be looking for. Did the book give any examples by chance?" Flaky asked.

"I'm not sure," Giggles admitted sitting down on a seat near a bunch of rooms. "I'll check." She set the clothing on her lap and opened the book. Flipping through a few pages, she found some example pictures and showed the group what she found.

"Oh neat, it shows for both men and women." Flaky noted looking at the pictures. "And yeah, that looks a bit like what you have." Flaky pointed to the picture she was referring to.

Giggles took a look at the picture and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, looks like it. Apparently it's called a skirt," she noted, seeing the label on the picture. "Now we just need to find something like this." She pointed to the button-up collared shirt on the same picture.

"I think I saw something like that on the way in." Handy offered. "I'll go get it." No one stopped him as he went to get the shirt.

"In the meantime, what are these rooms here." Giggles asked and no one knew the answer.

Meanwhile, Handy found a red version of the shirt and went to grab it before remembering he didn't have any hands and did his scowl trying to think of how to grab it. He managed to hook the shirt on his nub and balance it there as he took it back to the group.

"Oh Handy, this is perfect!" Giggles exclaimed taking the shirt from him and looking at it against the skirt. "They look good together, too. You know, for clothes." Then she noticed something on the tag. "Wait a second, why do they say small?"

"They both say small?" Cuddles asked and Giggles showed him the tags. "Maybe they're different sizes, everyone seems less one size fits all here."

"I think you're right," Giggles said, holding the shirt up and finding that it was much too small against her… bulky body. "I think I'll need a big…"

She got up on her own to look for the shirt and skirt in a big. She was able to find them on the rack but none of them said 'Big', instead, she found some labeled 'Large'. "I guess that's it."

She held them against her body finding that they both seemed to be the right size and took them back to the group, about as anxious to get out of there as Cuddles was with the library. "Alright, I got what I need. Let's get out of here."

No one objected because none of them were really interested in clothes either and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. On the way out, they accidently bumped one of the racks throwing it off balance and all four of them ducked for cover.

It was a good few moments before they realized nothing was crushing them and, one by one, they got to their feet, Flaky being the last of them.

One of the natives came over looking worried at them. "Hey, are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're okay," Giggles answered looking everyone over. "We just got scared by what we're used to happening with stuff like this."

"You guys have PTSD?" the native asked with a word they didn't understand. "I'm sorry to hear that, my father has PTSD and it's real rough on him."

"What's PTSD?" Giggles asked, then regretted asking figuring that it probably made her look stupid again.

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."

They were still confused what they were referring to until Cuddles made a connection. "Oh, you mean shell shock." He turned to the rest of the group. "Like Flippy." He turned back to the native. "Yeah, I suppose you can call it that."

"Good thing it's not like Flippy." Flaky added, dusting herself off. "Thank you for worrying about us though," she told the native. "What's your name, by the way?"

"My name's Jessica," the native introduced, offering her hand which all but obviously Handy accepted. "Does this happen a lot?" She still had a tone of worry as she spoke.

"It depends on how you define often," Giggles answered. "We just came from a place where we died regularly from little stuff like that."

They weren't expecting her to believe it but her face showed that she was seriously considering it. "So, if you all died regularly, how are you all alive now?"

"We'd always come back the next morning at five o'clock just like new." Handy answered for the group. "It's a bit of a blessing but mostly a curse."

"So I was right! You are from a different world!" The group stared at her shocked and a bit confused so Jessica explained. "Everywhere in this world, death is permanent, so, it's the only explanation."

"Death is permanent here?" Flaky gasped even more terrified than normal. "So, if we die, we never come back?"

"Yeah, that's how it works in this world," Jessica affirmed.

"I knew it. I knew there had to be some kind of catch to coming here," Flaky declared as if she was the only one that had been thinking that from the beginning… which she was not.

"I don't think that's a bad thing," Cuddles cut in, surprising the whole group. "I mean, how many deaths have we seen since we got here? None, right." The group nodded. "We could never say that in Happy Tree. Never. So, here, yes, death is permanent but it's also very rare."

"He's right," Jessica affirmed. "So rare that there's always a special ceremony called a funeral for it."

"Still, being dead forever doesn't sound terrible to you?" Flaky asked Cuddles in disbelief. "It would be the end of everything. Forever."

"I think it sounds less terrible that coming back just to die over and over again. Remember how you were on the second day of the curse?" Cuddles reminded her. "I still remember exactly what you said to me. Do you?"

"That was over a thousand years ago, Cuddles." Flaky reminded, then sighed and stated. "Yes, I remember. I can never forget actually."

"Well, then remember that Happy Tree was like this once and when it wasn't, it was the end of the world for you. You became a nervous wreck over it! So, what changed?"

"Well… I… ah…" Flaky sighed realizing she doesn't have a good answer to that question. He was one-hundred percent correct. "Nothing. Nothing changed."

"Exactly, we've been best friends for a thousand five-hundred and twenty-six years and I know you better than this. It is better this way and you know it."

"Um… you might wanna be quite about numbers like that. No one here would live that long." Jessica cut in, surprising the group.

"They don't?" Flaky asked. Her nerves spiking back up at how short their one remaining life might be. "How long do they survive then?"

"Closer to one-hundred years. If they're lucky that is." Jessica said, unintentionally throwing a wrench into everything. "And if you were anywhere near it, you'd look much different. You all look like you're about in your twenties."

"Okay, maybe this wasn't as good as I thought it would be," Cuddles admitted, looking down.

"Yo, Slippers!" A voice called out and Cuddles knew it was Catherine. After all, who else would call him Slippers? "What are you doing with the freaky conspiracy theorist."

"Why don't you just back off, Catherine!" Jessica said, surprisingly forceful, crossing her arms over her chest. "I can make my own friends and you don't own me!"

"Well, he's my friend so why don't you ask him. So, what is it, Slippers? The lame conspiracy theorist or an awesome skateboarder like you are?"

Cuddles wasn't sure what to answer. He did have fun with Catherine earlier and he does know what a conspiracy theorist is but Jessica is much nicer and actually believes what they went through in Happy Tree.

"Come on, Slippers, YOLO, you don't want to spend your life with some lame conspiracy theorist."

"Please don't talk about me like I'm not right here," Jessica cut in, but Catherine ignored her.

Cuddles still wasn't sure, looking back and forth between Jessica and Catherine. "Well, if I'm only going to live for so long, I might as well enjoy it while I can," He decided, going over to Catherine.

"You made the right choice, Slippers. Always remember YOLO." Catherine said, still confusing Cuddles as to what YOLO's supposed to mean. "Come on, let's go back to the skate park."

"Actually, I think I should stay with Giggles here. She has a job interview she needs to prepare for and I was going to help her."

"Just go, Cuddles," Giggles surprisingly released. "I'll just work with Handy and I'm sure we can get it."

"I can help, too," Jessica volunteered. "I've been on lots of job interviews."

"Well, alright then, if you're all sure…" No one had any objections. "Then I'll go to the skate park with you. I need to get my board and I'll meet you there," Cuddles said then ran off.

Flaky followed him out once again to no one's surprise but Jessica's. Once they were both out, Jessica said, "Those two are going to be eaten alive… figuratively speaking," she added, sure they would take it literally.

"He's that bad?" Giggles asked, getting worried about Cuddles, especially after they already saw her, she was starting to regret saying that he could go.

"First of all, Catherine is a girl. Second, yes, she is. I used to be friends with her a long time ago and she's very brutal, thinks it's fun to put people down, even her friends. Hell, even her boyfriend. There's a reason I stopped being her friend."

"Well, he'll be okay, Flaky will protect him if anything happens," Giggles said, trying to convince herself.

"I hope you're right, for their sakes," Jessica trailed off before changing the subject. "Should we head to your place?"

"Yeah, we should. Let's get to practicing for this interview, follow me," Giggles said, heading out of the clothing store and Handy and Jessica followed her out.

* * *

Cuddles had gotten his board and without even realizing that Flaky was following him, he made it to the skate park where Catherine and Jake were waiting. "Glad you could make it, Slippers." Catherine told him.

"I'm glad I could. So, what are we skating today?" Cuddles asked, coming to a stop.

"That," Catherine said, pointing to a very high and dangerous looking ramp that looked just like the one he was skinned alive on on the second day of the curse.

Cuddles immediately recognized the connection and gulped in fear as they headed to the top of the ramp.

Once at the top, Cuddles felt his heart racing in his chest as he looked out at the vast expanse of boxy buildings and really comprehending what he was about to do. He backed up, accidently running into Catherine. "I can't do this."

"Oh, come on, Slippers. Don't be like that. Just remember, YOLO," Catherine told him mockingly.

Cuddles, getting annoyed by that word she obsessively uses, finally asked what he had been thinking the whole time. "You keep saying that! What does it even mean?"

Catherine rolled her eyes but answered, "It stands for you only live once."

The words finally settled into him like a bitter acid along with what Jessica said about death in this world. What a stupid thing for her to go around saying. "Well, that sounds like a perfectly good reason not to do it."

Flaky was shocked as Cuddles turned and climbed down the ramp.


	8. You Don't Only Live Once

**I'm so sorry this chapter took so long but I promised I wouldn't abandon this story and I meant it so here's the next chapter. The reason this chapter took so long is that about half way through, I got a really nasty case of writer's block. Something all writer's here (and anywhere) understand all too well but I do have a full length chapter here for you that hopefully makes up for it.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends. All rights go to Mondo Media.**

Cuddles climbed all the way back down, ignoring Catherine calling out her nickname for him. Once he got down, he saw Flaky hiding behind a tree. "Oh, you heard all of that?" Cuddles asked, turning a bit red though Flaky couldn't tell why between her confusion and her inexperience with these bodies.

"Heard? No, I couldn't hear anything from down here." Flaky answered honestly, having not caught a single word, even with her paranoid hearing. "I did see enough to be thoroughly confused though."

Cuddles looked back at the insane ramp then back at Flaky. "I chickened out. Couldn't do it."

"But you went down one almost exactly the same on the second day of the curse." Flaky said, having not expected Cuddles to chicken out on anything. She hadn't seen him ever do it since the curse. Before it sure but never after.

"I was on an immortality high with every one of my friends back alive. I wasn't thinking right and blew off a short life knowing I'd be back the next day. I'm not going to do that with my last remaining life." Cuddles explained, deciding to leave YOLO alone. "Let's just head back to the apartment, I think that's where the others are."

"Yes, let's," Flaky agreed, anxious to get far away from the skate park as soon as possible. Once they got moving in the direction of the apartment, Cuddles carrying his board, Flaky asked, "Does this mean you're not going to hang around them anymore?"

"I haven't decided that yet but I think I should stay away from them." Cuddles admitted, shuffling awkwardly. "That's what my gut's telling me."

"You should listen to it," Flaky agreed, smiling a bit. "I never did trust them. I'm glad you finally saw that."

"Yeah, I should have listened to you from the beginning." He hesitated but decided to tell her the full truth. "You know that thing she kept saying all the time? YOLO?" Flaky nodded. "Well, it stands for you only live once."

"You only live once? Well, that's a stupid thing for her to go around saying." Flaky commented, without a hint of joke. "It sounds like a perfectly good excuse not to do that kind of stuff."

"That's exactly what I said!"

"It was?" Flaky asked, surprised. "Well, I guess in Happy Tree, you instead used the exact opposite that you don't only live once."

"It started off that way, yeah, but in more recent times, that's not really the reason I did stuff like that." Cuddles explained, only surprising and confusing Flaky. "In more recent day, I figured that every single thing in that town could kill me and as you've learned many times over, it's impossible to avoid everything, so why bother avoiding anything? I was just as likely to die playing it safe and that's a lot less fun."

Flaky was at a loss of what to say, not really having anything to repute his logic with. His logic was flawless. "I never thought of it that way." Flaky admitted as they reached the apartment building and headed up to theirs.

 **Back in the apartment, Giggles was doing a practice run with Jessica's help as the interviewer, which was proving much harder then she had ever anticipated. "Alright, you almost got it, ready to go through again?"**

"Yeah, I'm ready," Giggles said, still a little nervous, even though they already went through it once before.

Jessica left the room and came back in. Giggles stood up, remembering she was told to do so, shaking her hand when Jessica came over. "You must be Giggles, right?"

"Yes, that's me," Giggles said, not sure exactly why they're even practicing this part when it seemed so straight forward. She manages to work up the courage to actually up and ask. "What is the point of practicing this part?"

"You never get a second chance to make a first impression." Jessica explained simply. "It may seem simple but it's a very important part. It's the first time the person who will decide your future actually sees you. This is arguably the most important part of the job interview. You are doing a good job at it though, quite the handshake you have."

"Really? It was good?" Giggles asked a bit unsure about the whole set up. "This whole thing is so weird. We had nothing like it back in Happy Tree. Jobs were just assigned out there. Though, I guess this place is much more populated so there's not enough jobs to go around."

"Well, I can't really confirm or deny that but you're right about there not being enough jobs to go around. I've been looking for one for months with no luck." Jessica blushed and admitted. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have said that. I guess I'm not the best to teach you how to do these interviews."

"No, you've been lots of help." Giggles countered though she didn't like the sound of those numbers, hoping she won't be looking for that long. "You know a lot more about it than we do."

"Thanks, Giggles," Jessica smiled as the door to the apartment opened. "Oh! Your friends are back!"

Giggles turned around to see Cuddles and Flaky walk in. "Cuddles, Flaky, you're back early. Are you both alright?" she asked, partially just assuming the worst as a force of habit, partially remembering what Jessica said about Catherine.

Cuddles was a bit afraid to admit the truth that he chickened out when he's supposed to be their brave leader. It was bad enough that Flaky knew. He only hoped she would keep his lie. Which, wasn't really a lie. "Catherine wanted to do something very dangerous and Flaky was too scared to let me do it." He caught her eyeing him and tried to ignore it. "I figured it was time to actually listen to her for once."

"Well, it's good you did listen to her," Handy said, reminding them of his presence, over leaning against the far wall. "We don't want to permanently lose our leader. Especially over something stupid."

Cuddles blushed and quickly changed the subject. "So, how's preparation for the interview going?"

"It's been going well. At least, I think so." Giggles answered, unable to stop thinking about the numbers Jessica gave on her own job hunt. "This is all so weird but I'm learning and she said I've been doing well."

"Cool, mind if I watch? I'm curious as to how these things work," Cuddles asked.

"I would like to know to," Flaky agreed.

"Well, sure, Handy's been watching the whole time," Giggles offered, motioning to the handless handyman leaning against the far wall.

"Wait, Handy?" Jessica tried her best not to laugh but found it very hard as she looked over at Handy. "That's really your name?"

Handy only scowled. "I know. I know. The irony is not lost on you. Was named Handy at birth, then TWO fucking DAYS before the start of the curse, I lose both my arms permanently, not even getting them back when I came to this world. Go ahead and laugh, I know you want to."

Despite the allowance, Jessica was still trying really hard not to laugh. "It's really okay," Giggles said. "We all laughed the first time." That was mostly a lie as most of them in Happy Tree knew him before he lost his hands but she was trying so hard and Lammy did laugh at least.

Jessica finally burst out laughing rather loudly for a few seconds before calming down. "Okay, okay I'm sorry, I'm done now."

"So, back to the interview?" Giggles asked as Cuddles and Flaky went back over by Handy, who was still wearing a scowl.

"Yes, back to the interview." Jessica left the room. Which didn't come to a surprise to Giggles or Handy but definitely did to Cuddles and Flaky.

Giggles could tell and gave the answer she was given. "We're practicing from when she first shows up because you never get a second chance to make a first impression. She says it's super important."

* * *

Although he hadn't sold all of Flaky's stuff and hadn't even touched Cuddles', Shifty had a regular appointment he had to make as he headed into the candy store, glad to find Mole working it, requiring very little effort to secrecy as he emptied the entire stock into his van.

He was glad he remembered to head in early since he was operating alone now so it took much longer to finish the job. Still, he was done and headed to the ally they always met Nutty just in time as the sugar freak jittered into the same alleyway.

It was the only time he'd see someone happy to see them but other than that, it was just another sale, his specialty.

Shifty parked and got out of the van, to find Nutty staring at the loot in the wide open back. "Alright, you know the drill," Shifty said, holding out his paw. Nutty put the money in Shifty's paw but was looking at the passenger side door seemingly expectant.

Shifty was surprised that Nutty would notice anything that didn't have anything to do with candy or sugar. Shifty grunted and ordered him, "Just take your candy and leave."

Nutty collected the candy but didn't leave, his working eye just staring at the passenger seat as he sucked on a lollipop he just got.

Shifty of course knew what, or more appropriately who, he was looking for but certainly didn't want to deal with it. "I know you don't speak Gibberish but do you not understand it too? I said get your candy and leave."

Nutty kept shoving more candy in his mouth but didn't make any move to leave, still staring at the passenger door.

"Lifty's not here, okay? He's gone. He's gone and he's never coming back!" Shifty snapped, getting annoyed. He was surprised to feel some tears trickle his eyes and held them back as he reiterated, "He's gone, you stupid squirrel!"

Nutty finally caught the message and gathered up his candy, leaving for his house. Once he was gone, Shifty broke down.

* * *

Lifty all of the sudden got an uncomfortable feeling, shifting on his bed. He couldn't quite place where the feeling was coming from but he certainly didn't like it. "What's wrong, Lifty?" Jerome asked.

"I-I don't know…" Lifty admitted honestly, trying to work out what these feelings are and why they came to being at such a weird time.

"Well, obviously something's wrong," Jerome observed, getting in closer to Lifty. "This may sound impossible but maybe something's going on at home, did you have anyone there you really cared about?"

"First of all, please don't call that awful place my home, this is my home now," Lifty requested, feeling a bit of disgust but it was covered by this other feeling. "Second of all, no, I was a thief back there, remember? Everyone hated me because of it. Even those who came here with me never let me share my reasoning for what I'd done."

"Well, I guess that makes sense but what about any family members? Parents? Siblings?"

"My parents fled Happy Tree a long time ago," Lifty answered truthfully, hesitating before answering, "I did have a brother, twin, actually, but we had far from the best relationship. I hate him actually."

"Well, even if you say that, you have to still love him. I mean, he is still your family. Also, I've heard with twins specifically that they share some kind of telepathic bond. Maybe you somehow sensed that he's in trouble right now."

"Well, it's almost certain that he is in trouble right now." Lifty said, of course knowing Happy Tree very well that the odds were he's dead or close to it back there but that left a different question. "If that's the case though, why would I only be having this feeling now instead of earlier?"

"Well, maybe he's in more trouble than normal or just a different kind." Jerome suggested, struggling a bit to work through this. "Or I might be wrong about this whole thing."

Even though he knew it was possible and he found it hard to believe in a telepathic bond between him and Shifty, he couldn't help but think about what else Jerome said about him still being family.

He remembered how angry Shifty was when he left and wondered if it was only because of losing someone to do the grunt work on heists or if there was any semblance of brotherly love there. It was hard to imagine that Shifty was actually missing him but now it seemed possible. That left another question: was he missing Shifty? The name didn't come with as much poison as before he left but was there more to it than that? He didn't know.

* * *

Cuddles tried to focus on the practice interview but was glad he wasn't the one who was going to be doing it for real because he couldn't stop thinking about YOLO and why Catherine would be going around saying that. He now knew what YOLO stood for but he didn't know what it meant.

He tried to compare it to his own mind set back in Happy Tree but they just didn't line up. Sure, what they were doing did seem fun but this new world wasn't dangerous. Maybe it worked in the opposite direction. Maybe this new world was so safe that they didn't have anything to worry about doing this kind of stuff. He doubted it but reasoned to talk to Jessica about it when she and Giggles were done with the job interview.

It was the best shot he had at least. He hadn't heard her use the term but Jessica has grown to be their expert in this new culture. He wished he could ask now but knew that wasn't an option. At least not until she finished teaching Giggles how to do a job interview so he forced himself to focus on the practice, sure that he would eventually need to get a job himself.

Flaky looked over at him, able to tell something was wrong but she just couldn't tell what. So, after a few times watching through the practices, she motioned him into the bedroom and he did follow.

* * *

She closed the door behind them before turning to Cuddles with a serious and worried expression. It was always in her nature to worry about her friends and, in spite of everything, Cuddles will always be her best friend and she hated to see him in any distress. "What can I do to help you?"

Cuddles did smile a little at that. "Same old Flaky." Cuddles thought about her question for a few beats before coming to a rather disappointing answer. "I don't think there is anything you can do to help. I'm pretty much okay really. I'm just wondering what saying YOLO really means."

"What do you mean?" Flaky asked, taking a step back, her face twisting in confusion. "Didn't you already learn that YOLO means you only live once? I mean, that's what you told me."

"I know that's what it _stands for_ but what does it _mean_. What message do Catherine and Jake mean to deliver every time they say it? I know you don't have an answer to that question but Jessica might and once she and Giggles are done with the practice interview, I can ask her and then I'll be okay."

Flaky studied his face and still couldn't read the new faces really well but could still feel that there was something else wrong that he wasn't saying. "Cuddles, there's something else wrong. I just know it."

Now that she brought it up, he could feel it… he couldn't explain it… he had no idea what else was bothering him but it was there. "Yes there is but I don't know what it is."

"Oh…" Flaky racked her brain, not liking the idea of not doing anything for him at all and finally settled for asking, "Do you want a hug?" At the offer, he immediately hugged her but she could feel that he was being careful around her back area and let out a slight laugh. "I don't have quills anymore, you know."

Cuddles laughed as well, wrapping his arms tightly around her small figure. "Sorry, I guess it's just a force of habit."

They were both feeling much better when they separated but there was still this nagging feeling of dread in the back of his head that, even though he didn't know the reason, he couldn't seem to shake, even as they heard a knock at the bedroom door.

Cuddles went over and answered it finding Handy waiting on the other side. "Handy, how did you knock?" were the first words out of his mouth instead of a greeting or asking what he needed.

Handy only scowled and demonstrated by kicked the open door with his foot. "It's not that hard." He looked back to the living room, then back at them and said. "Giggles and Jessica are finished practicing, if you care."

Flaky looked back at Cuddles, remembering what he told her he knew was wrong and earned a nod. "Yeah, let's go talk to her." Cuddles agreed and they headed back to the living room, leaving Handy to wonder what they were going to talk to her about but just shrugged it off, figuring Jessica is a cornucopia of information about this world.

* * *

They caught her just about to leave the apartment. "Wait!" Cuddles called out, causing her to stop in her tracks and turn to look at them.

Jessica raised an eyebrow but did give a small smile, understanding how important of a source she is for them. "Is there anything else I could do for you guys?" she asked patiently, closing the apartment door.

Cuddles came over closer and explained, "Well, it's about something Catherine and Jake kept saying, YOLO." Jessica frowned in clear distaste of the term but didn't interrupt him. "I mean, she did say it stands of you only live once but I still can't figure out what they're actually trying to say by using that term."

Jessica sighed, not liking the idea of talking about that term but understand why he wanted to know so badly so she did in a very defacing way. "YOLO is an excuse stupid people use to do stupid stuff." Cuddles and Flaky had both figured that out already. "Basically, they're trying to say that since you'll never get another chance to live, you should try to make the best of it but what they're really doing is trying to make their life even shorter."

"That does sound like Catherine…" Cuddles admitted thinking it over but Flaky _must_ have been right because he still didn't feel sated by that answer. "Once I found out what it stands for, I told her that it sounds like a perfectly good excuse not to do it and I just left."

"That means you're smart." Jessica said, smiling a bit, relieved to have received that kind of reaction. "I bet that was a little rattling to hear when you come from somewhere where that isn't the case."

Cuddles thought that over before admitting honestly, not sure what else to say on the matter. "Not really. We already knew from you that we only live once here so it's not like it came as a surprise."

"I see," Jessica said, tapping her fingers together and glancing back towards the door. "Well, if that's all you guys need to know for now, I'll be back tomorrow but I should really be heading home for dinner before my mom starts getting worried." The comment was made innocently. She didn't mean anything by it but exactly what she said. All four of them looked down at the ground for reasons that Jessica didn't understand but she figured it was best not to ask at the time so she just kept her mouth shut.

Finally, Flaky looked up and answered, "Sure, go have dinner with your _family_. We'll see you tomorrow." Flaky really emphasized the word family, almost spitting it out like it was poison.

That emphasis told Jessica all that see needed to know and she headed out of the apartment on the way to her house with some deep regret, even though she knew there was no way she could have known that such a simple comment could offend them like that.

* * *

After a calm dinner with her parents and older brother Michael, Jessica headed to her room and pulled out her journal.

 **April 29** **th** **2016**

Dear journal,

I'm sure you remember the unconscious people I found in the park yesterday and wandering the streets, arguing in a different language? Well, I actually got to know them today and I was right about some things and wrong about others.

I was right about them being from another world. They apparently come from a world where death is incredibly common and incredibly temporary. Something that I can't even begin to imagine and from what they told me, the deaths are almost always far from painless. They've been through a lot.

Like I said, I wasn't right about everything though. Even though their world is dangerous, they are far from it. Actually, they're very nice.

They just need a lot of help understanding the culture of this world and I'm more than willing to provide that guidance. I already taught one of them how to do a job interview.

I know, I guess I'm not in the best position to teach anyone how to do a job interview but, right now, I'm the best resource they have so I'll provide them with whatever support they need. I even taught them what YOLO means and you know how much I hate that term.

Also, it seems that they families abandon them. When I brought up my mother, they all got sad and Flaky spat out the word "family" in great distaste. I didn't mean to hurt any of them.

I should be getting to bed now but I will be over to see them again tomorrow. Hopefully they're not mad at me for the comment.

* * *

Darkness. Mind-numbing, encompassing, unrelieved darkness. His greatest fear. His breath congealed in his chest as the blackness swirled all around him. His heart beat a hard staccato against his ribcage as he felt around him for anything familiar. There was nothing. Just the darkness.

No. Something wet covered the ground. Something he knew all too well. Smelling tangy, oddly sweet, and of copper. Reaching down, he felt it was sticky and gooey, as it squishes between his fingers, coats his hands and clings to every pore. He felt around himself to see if it was his. He didn't even have a paper-cut.

"Hello?" He called into the vast darkness. There was no response. After a while, he started to think that whatever or whoever it came from was already dead.

That was until he heard a long and grating scream followed by a familiar voice shouting, "CUUUUUUUUDLLLLESSSS!" He recognized the voice right away and ran in the direction the voice came from.

He stopped short when he came upon a prostrate figure lying inside a thin beam of light a few seconds later. It was Toothy and he was in bad shape. His scalp had been completely shorn from his head, his teeth knocked out of his mouth, and he could see that the bone protruded from an arm bent at a grotesque angle. "Help me…" Toothy crooked out, looking up at Cuddles with pleading eyes. "I just need you to…" he seemed to have trouble getting it out. "I just need you to stay here with me."

Before Cuddles had any time to respond, another light came on behind him. He turned and saw another familiar figure lying there, in even worse shape than Toothy had been in. A familiar blue skunk. Her eyes were hanging out of her head but still seemed to be looking at him, her stomach was ripped open, and all her fingers chopped off. "Cuddles...why?" Her voice was hardly a whisper. "Why did you abandon me like this?"

"I didn't!" Cuddles found himself greatly confused by her statement. "I'm right here, Petunia!"

"No, you're not, Cuddles," she said weakly. "We both know you're not."

"What do you…?" Cuddles started to ask when the area filled completely with light and he found himself wishing it didn't.

All around him were the remaining residents of Happy Tree. All alive but brutally mutilated. Even the living weapons. Some only had deep lacerations or broken bones. Others were skinned or missing limbs or even organs. Cuddles couldn't exactly explain why but his breath hitched in his throat, eyes wide open. He should have been used to the sight but not all at once.

Cries of various voices filled the room.

"Cuddles!"

"Why?!"

"Help me!"

"We need you!"

Cuddles shot up from his spot on the floor screaming and waking everyone else up. The meaning of it all suddenly became clear as day.

 **Well... that was creepy. I hope this made up for the hiatus. So, what WAS the meaning of Cuddles nightmare? Do you know? If not, than you'll find out in the next chapter which should come out much sooner. Please review!**


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